diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2090d36d2..b7af3e20e 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1435,6 +1435,9 @@ checksum = "04744f49eae99ab78e0d5c0b603ab218f515ea8cfe5a456d7629ad883a3b6e7d"
 [[package]]
 name = "option_parser"
 version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "thiserror 2.0.6",
+]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ordered-stream"
diff --git a/option_parser/Cargo.toml b/option_parser/Cargo.toml
index 23fbd4752..fc3129a70 100644
--- a/option_parser/Cargo.toml
+++ b/option_parser/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,3 +3,6 @@ authors = ["The Cloud Hypervisor Authors"]
 edition = "2021"
 name = "option_parser"
 version = "0.1.0"
+
+[dependencies]
+thiserror = "2.0.6"
diff --git a/option_parser/src/lib.rs b/option_parser/src/lib.rs
index 54f97ee29..2d4cce017 100644
--- a/option_parser/src/lib.rs
+++ b/option_parser/src/lib.rs
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@
 //
 
 use std::collections::HashMap;
-use std::fmt;
 use std::num::ParseIntError;
 use std::str::FromStr;
 
+use thiserror::Error;
+
 #[derive(Default)]
 pub struct OptionParser {
     options: HashMap<String, OptionParserValue>,
@@ -18,26 +19,17 @@ struct OptionParserValue {
     requires_value: bool,
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug)]
+#[derive(Error, Debug)]
 pub enum OptionParserError {
+    #[error("unknown option: {0}")]
     UnknownOption(String),
+    #[error("unknown option: {0}")]
     InvalidSyntax(String),
-    Conversion(String, String),
+    #[error("unable to convert {1} for {0}")]
+    Conversion(String /* field */, String /* value */),
+    #[error("invalid value: {0}")]
     InvalidValue(String),
 }
-
-impl fmt::Display for OptionParserError {
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
-        match self {
-            OptionParserError::UnknownOption(s) => write!(f, "unknown option: {s}"),
-            OptionParserError::InvalidSyntax(s) => write!(f, "invalid syntax:{s}"),
-            OptionParserError::Conversion(field, value) => {
-                write!(f, "unable to convert {value} for {field}")
-            }
-            OptionParserError::InvalidValue(s) => write!(f, "invalid value: {s}"),
-        }
-    }
-}
 type OptionParserResult<T> = std::result::Result<T, OptionParserError>;
 
 fn split_commas(s: &str) -> OptionParserResult<Vec<String>> {