diff --git a/shadow-cljs.edn b/shadow-cljs.edn
index ace816b..95a5f01 100644
--- a/shadow-cljs.edn
+++ b/shadow-cljs.edn
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
   ;; for CIDER
   [cider/cider-nrepl "0.18.0-SNAPSHOT"]]
 
+ :nrepl {:port 9000}
+
  :builds
  {:app {:target :browser
         :output-dir "public/app/js"
diff --git a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/db.cljs b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/db.cljs
index 7f3b701..b8cbcac 100644
--- a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/db.cljs
+++ b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/db.cljs
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@
 
 (def default-db
   {;; because navigate! executes asynchronously we force to display the login screen first
-   :current-route [routes/default-route]})
+   :current-route [routes/default-route]
+   :notifications (sorted-map)})
diff --git a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/events.cljs b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/events.cljs
index 6b82793..c067841 100644
--- a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/events.cljs
+++ b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/events.cljs
@@ -87,14 +87,16 @@
   (let [creds (:credentials db)]
     (api/url (:server creds) endpoint (merge params (select-keys creds [:u :p])))))
 
+(defn api-request [{:keys [db]} [_ endpoint k params]]
+  {:http-xhrio {:method :get
+                :uri (api-url db endpoint params)
+                :response-format (ajax/json-response-format {:keywords? true})
+                :on-success [::api-success k]
+                :on-failure [::api-failure]}})
+
 (re-frame/reg-event-fx
  :api-request
- (fn [{:keys [db]} [_ endpoint k params]]
-   {:http-xhrio {:method :get
-                 :uri (api-url db endpoint params)
-                 :response-format (ajax/json-response-format {:keywords? true})
-                 :on-success [::api-success k]
-                 :on-failure [::api-failure]}}))
+ api-request)
 
 (re-frame/reg-event-db
  ::api-success
@@ -173,3 +175,29 @@
    {:routes/navigate [routes/default-route]
     :routes/unset-credentials nil
     :db db/default-db}))
+
+;; user messages
+
+(defn show-notification
+  "Displays an informative message to the user"
+  [db [_ level message]]
+  (let [id (.now js/performance)]
+    (if (nil? message)
+      (let [message level
+            level :info]
+        (assoc-in db [:notifications id] {:level level
+                                          :message message}))
+      (assoc-in db [:notifications id] {:level level
+                                        :message message}))))
+
+(re-frame/reg-event-db
+ :notification/show
+ show-notification)
+
+(defn hide-notification
+  [db [_ notification-id]]
+  (update db :notifications dissoc notification-id))
+
+(re-frame/reg-event-db
+ :notification/hide
+ hide-notification)
diff --git a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/subs.cljs b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/subs.cljs
index 5cfb1a2..36048a2 100644
--- a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/subs.cljs
+++ b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/subs.cljs
@@ -6,40 +6,38 @@
 ;; FIXME: this is used for cover images and it's quite ugly tbh
 (re-frame/reg-sub
  ::login
- (fn [db]
+ (fn [db _]
    (select-keys (:credentials db) [:u :p])))
 
 (re-frame/reg-sub
  ::user
- (fn [{:keys [credentials]}]
+ (fn [{:keys [credentials]} [_]]
    {:name (:u credentials)}))
 
 (re-frame/reg-sub
  ::server
- (fn [db]
+ (fn [db _]
    (get-in db [:credentials :server])))
 
 ;; current hashbang
 
 (re-frame/reg-sub
  ::current-route
- (fn [db]
+ (fn [db _]
    (:current-route db)))
 
-;; ---
-
 ;; TODO: Make this nice and clean
 
 (re-frame/reg-sub
  ::current-content
- (fn [db]
-   (db :response)))
+ (fn [db _]
+   (:response db)))
 
 (re-frame/reg-sub
  ; returns info on the current song as is (basically the metadata you can read from the file system)
  ::currently-playing
- (fn [db]
-   (db :currently-playing)))
+ (fn [db _]
+   (:currently-playing db)))
 
 (re-frame/reg-sub
  ::is-playing?
@@ -49,3 +47,10 @@
    (let [status (:status currently-playing)]
      (and (not (:paused? status))
           (not (:ended? status))))))
+
+;; user notifications
+
+(re-frame/reg-sub
+ ::notifications
+ (fn [db _]
+   (:notifications db)))
diff --git a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api.cljs b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api.cljs
index 09aeecf..a182123 100644
--- a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api.cljs
+++ b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api.cljs
@@ -22,3 +22,18 @@
 
 (defn cover-url [server credentials item size]
   (url server "getCoverArt" (merge {:id (:coverArt item) :size size} credentials)))
+
+(defn is-error? [response]
+  (= "failed" (get-in response [:subsonic-response :status])))
+
+(defn unwrap-response
+  "Retrieves the actual response body"
+  [response]
+  (if (is-error? response)
+    (let [error (:error response)]
+      (throw (ex-info (:message response) error)))
+    (-> (get-in response [:subsonic-response])
+        (dissoc :status :version)
+        vals
+        first)))
+
diff --git a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/views.cljs b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/views.cljs
index 1aa7d6a..3005461 100644
--- a/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/views.cljs
+++ b/src/cljs/airsonic_ui/views.cljs
@@ -46,12 +46,26 @@
           {:on-click #(dispatch [::events/initialize-db]) :href "#"}
           (str "Logout (" (:name user) ")")]]]])
 
+;; user notifications
+
+(defn notification-list [notifications]
+  [:div.notifications
+   (for [[id notification] notifications]
+     (let [class (case (:level notification)
+                   :error "danger"
+                   "info")]
+       ^{:key id} [:div {:class-name (str "notification is-small is-" class)}
+                   [:button.delete {:on-click #(dispatch [:notification/hide id])}]
+                   (:message notification)]))])
+
 ;; putting everything together
 
 (defn app [route params query]
   (let [user @(subscribe [::subs/user])
+        notifications @(subscribe [::subs/notifications])
         content @(subscribe [::subs/current-content])]
     [:div
+     [notification-list notifications]
      [:main.columns
       [:div.column.is-2.sidebar
        [sidebar user]]
diff --git a/src/sass/app.sass b/src/sass/app.sass
index ff7972c..aa522c2 100644
--- a/src/sass/app.sass
+++ b/src/sass/app.sass
@@ -73,3 +73,11 @@
 .table
   .grow
     width: 100%
+
+// floating notifications
+.notifications
+  @extend .container
+  padding-top: 3.2rem
+  position: fixed
+  left: 0
+  right: 0
diff --git a/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/events_test.cljs b/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/events_test.cljs
index 0d88f42..6c6580b 100644
--- a/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/events_test.cljs
+++ b/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/events_test.cljs
@@ -43,3 +43,26 @@
   (testing "When there's no previous login data"
     (testing "remembering has no effect"
       (is (nil? (events/try-remember-user {} [:_]))))))
+
+(defn- first-notification [db]
+  (-> (:notifications db) vals first))
+
+(deftest user-notifications
+  (testing "Should be able to display a message with an assigned level"
+    (is (= :error (:level (first-notification (events/show-notification {} [:_ :error "foo"])))))
+    (is (= :info (:level (first-notification (events/show-notification {} [:_ :info "some other message"]))))))
+  (testing "Should default to level :info"
+    (is (= :info (:level (first-notification (events/show-notification {} [:_ "and another one"]))))))
+  (testing "Should create a unique id for each message"
+    (let [state (->
+                 {}
+                 (events/show-notification [:_ :info "Something something"])
+                 (events/show-notification [:_ :error "Something important"]))
+          ids (keys (:notifications state))]
+      (is (= (count ids) (count (set ids))))))
+  (testing "Should remove a message, given it's id"
+    (let [state (events/show-notification {} [:_ "This is a notification"])
+          id (-> (:notifications state)
+                 keys
+                 first)]
+      (is (empty? (:notifications (events/hide-notification state [:_ id])))))))
diff --git a/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api_test.cljs b/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api_test.cljs
index 7e12ee0..9d579ad 100644
--- a/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api_test.cljs
+++ b/test/cljs/airsonic_ui/utils/api_test.cljs
@@ -9,7 +9,17 @@
   (api/url server endpoint {}))
 
 (def fixtures
-  {:default-url (url "http://localhost:8080" "ping")})
+  {:default-url (url "http://localhost:8080" "ping")
+   :responses {:error {:subsonic-response
+                       {:error {:code 40
+                                :message "Wrong username or password"}
+                        :status "failed"
+                        :version "1.15.0"}}}
+               :ok {:subsonic-response
+                    {:scanStatus {:count 10326
+                                  :scanning false}
+                     :status "ok"
+                     :version "1.15.0"}}})
 
 (deftest general-url-construction
   (testing "Handles missing slashes"
@@ -30,3 +40,19 @@
       (is (true? (str/includes? (api/cover-url "http://server.tld" {} album -1) (str "id=" (:coverArt album))))))
     (testing "Should scale an image to a given size"
       (is (true? (str/includes? (api/cover-url "http://server.tld" {} album 48) "size=48"))))))
+
+(deftest response-handling
+  (testing "Should unwrap responses"
+    (let [response (get-in fixtures [:responses :ok])]
+      (is (= (get-in response [:subsonic-response :scanStatus])
+             (api/unwrap-response response)))))
+  (testing "Should detect errors"
+    (is (true? (api/is-error? (get-in fixtures [:responses :error]))))
+    (is (false? (api/is-error? (get-in fixtures [:responses :ok])))))
+  (testing "Should throw an informative error when trying to unwrap an erroneous response"
+    (let [error-response (get-in fixtures [:responses :error])]
+      (is (thrown? ExceptionInfo (api/unwrap-response error-response)))
+      (try
+        (api/unwrap-response error-response)
+        (catch ExceptionInfo e
+          (= (:error error-response) (ex-data e)))))))