diff --git a/src/app/actions/log-work.ts b/src/app/actions/log-work.ts
index 39a6a29..008b49f 100644
--- a/src/app/actions/log-work.ts
+++ b/src/app/actions/log-work.ts
@@ -100,7 +100,12 @@ export async function logWorkAction(input: {
       sha: `manual-${randomUUID()}`,
       short_sha: "manual",
       message,
-      subject: message,
+      // subject has a 300-character limit at the schema level (it exists to
+      // hold a short git commit subject line). A logged entry's summary is
+      // always populated, so subject here is only ever a fallback that will
+      // in practice never be read — but it is still validated on write, so
+      // it must be truncated to fit rather than holding the full message.
+      subject: message.slice(0, 300),
       type: "",
       scope: "",
       author_name: "",
@@ -124,7 +129,13 @@ export async function logWorkAction(input: {
       source: "manual",
       manual_minutes: Math.round(input.hours * 60),
     });
-  } catch {
+  } catch (error) {
+    // The client only ever sees the generic message below — a validation
+    // constraint is not sensitive, but there is no reason to expose
+    // PocketBase's internals to the browser. The real reason still needs to
+    // be discoverable without re-deriving it by hand, so it goes to the
+    // server log.
+    console.error("[log-work] commit create failed:", error);
     return { ok: false, message: "Could not save that entry" };
   }