diff --git a/osbuild/api.py b/osbuild/api.py
index 2c65a0ff..baa985ae 100644
--- a/osbuild/api.py
+++ b/osbuild/api.py
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ def exception(e, path="/run/osbuild/api/osbuild"):
         msg = {
             "method": "exception",
             "exception": {
-                "type": str(type(e)),
+                "type": type(e).__name__,
                 "value": str(e),
                 "traceback": str(e.__traceback__)
             }
diff --git a/test/mod/test_api.py b/test/mod/test_api.py
index ee42a80a..c244b4b0 100644
--- a/test/mod/test_api.py
+++ b/test/mod/test_api.py
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ class TestAPI(unittest.TestCase):
         for field in ("type", "value", "traceback"):
             self.assertIn(field, e, f"Exception needs '{field}'")
         self.assertEqual(e["value"], "osbuild test exception")
+        self.assertEqual(e["type"], "ValueError")
 
     def test_metadata(self):
         # Check that `api.metadata` leads to `API.metadata` being