diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 543a1d8..4011856 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ## 0.3.4
 
-- Bug fixes in `.flask_sqlalchemy`
+- Bug fixes in `.flask_sqlalchemy` and `.sqlalchemy` — `require_auth()` is unusable before this point!
 
 ## 0.3.3
 
diff --git a/src/suou/__init__.py b/src/suou/__init__.py
index 39a7b30..51253f2 100644
--- a/src/suou/__init__.py
+++ b/src/suou/__init__.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from .itertools import makelist, kwargs_prefix, ltuple, rtuple, additem
 from .i18n import I18n, JsonI18n, TomlI18n
 from .snowflake import Snowflake, SnowflakeGen
 
-__version__ = "0.3.4-dev24"
+__version__ = "0.3.4.rc1"
 
 __all__ = (
     'Siq', 'SiqCache', 'SiqType', 'SiqGen', 'StringCase',
diff --git a/src/suou/flask_restx.py b/src/suou/flask_restx.py
index 9d4955a..ecdf3da 100644
--- a/src/suou/flask_restx.py
+++ b/src/suou/flask_restx.py
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@ class Api(_Api):
     Notably, all JSON is whitespace-free and .message is remapped to .error
     """
     def handle_error(self, e):
+        ### XXX apparently this handle_error does not get called AT ALL.
+        print(e)
         res = super().handle_error(e)
+        print(res)
         if isinstance(res, Mapping) and 'message' in res:
             res['error'] = res['message']
             del res['message']
diff --git a/src/suou/flask_sqlalchemy.py b/src/suou/flask_sqlalchemy.py
index 7cd5b41..508e296 100644
--- a/src/suou/flask_sqlalchemy.py
+++ b/src/suou/flask_sqlalchemy.py
@@ -43,9 +43,9 @@ class FlaskAuthSrc(AuthSrc):
     def invalid_exc(self, msg: str = 'validation failed') -> Never:
         abort(400, msg)
     def required_exc(self):
-        abort(401)
+        abort(401, 'Login required')
 
-def require_auth(cls: type[DeclarativeBase], db: SQLAlchemy) -> Callable[Any, Callable]:
+def require_auth(cls: type[DeclarativeBase], db: SQLAlchemy) -> Callable:
     """
     Make an auth_required() decorator for Flask views.
 
@@ -67,7 +67,12 @@ def require_auth(cls: type[DeclarativeBase], db: SQLAlchemy) -> Callable[Any, Ca
     def super_secret_stuff(user):
         pass
     """
-    return partial(require_auth_base, cls=cls, src=FlaskAuthSrc(db))
+    def auth_required(**kwargs):
+        return require_auth_base(cls=cls, src=FlaskAuthSrc(db), **kwargs)
+
+    auth_required.__doc__ = require_auth_base.__doc__
+
+    return auth_required
 
 
 __all__ = ('require_auth', )
diff --git a/src/suou/sqlalchemy.py b/src/suou/sqlalchemy.py
index 2019424..8ff32a4 100644
--- a/src/suou/sqlalchemy.py
+++ b/src/suou/sqlalchemy.py
@@ -253,8 +253,7 @@ class AuthSrc(metaclass=ABCMeta):
 
 
 def require_auth_base(cls: type[DeclarativeBase], *, src: AuthSrc, column: str | Column[_T] = 'id', dest: str = 'user',
-        required: bool = False, signed: bool = False, sig_dest: str = 'signature', validators: Callable | Iterable[Callable] | None = None,
-        invalid_exc: Callable | None = None, required_exc: Callable | None = None):
+        required: bool = False, signed: bool = False, sig_dest: str = 'signature', validators: Callable | Iterable[Callable] | None = None):
     '''
     Inject the current user into a view, given the Authorization: Bearer header.
 
@@ -275,11 +274,11 @@ def require_auth_base(cls: type[DeclarativeBase], *, src: AuthSrc, column: str |
         except Exception:
             return None
 
-    def _default_invalid(msg: str):
+    def _default_invalid(msg: str = 'validation failed'):
         raise ValueError(msg)
         
-    invalid_exc = invalid_exc or _default_invalid
-    required_exc = required_exc or (lambda: _default_invalid())
+    invalid_exc = src.invalid_exc or _default_invalid
+    required_exc = src.required_exc or (lambda: _default_invalid())
 
     def decorator(func: Callable):
         @wraps(func)