diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changelog for http-client
 
+## 0.6.1
+
+* Add `setUriEither` to `Network.HTTP.Client.Internal`
+
 ## 0.6.0
 
 * Generalize `renderParts` over arbitrary applicative functors.  One particular
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs b/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Client/Request.hs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
     , setUriRelative
     , getUri
     , setUri
+    , setUriEither
     , browserDecompress
     , alwaysDecompress
     , addProxy
@@ -226,9 +227,18 @@
 
 -- | Validate a 'URI', then add it to the request.
 setUri :: MonadThrow m => Request -> URI -> m Request
-setUri req uri = do
+setUri req uri = either throwInvalidUrlException return (setUriEither req uri)
+  where
+    throwInvalidUrlException = throwM . InvalidUrlException (show uri)
+
+-- | A variant of `setUri` that returns an error message on validation errors,
+-- instead of propagating them with `throwM`.
+--
+-- @since 0.6.1
+setUriEither :: Request -> URI -> Either String Request
+setUriEither req uri = do
     sec <- parseScheme uri
-    auth <- maybe (failUri "URL must be absolute") return $ uriAuthority uri
+    auth <- maybe (Left "URL must be absolute") return $ uriAuthority uri
     port' <- parsePort sec auth
     return $ applyAnyUriBasedAuth uri req
         { host = S8.pack $ uriRegName auth
@@ -241,20 +251,17 @@
         , queryString = S8.pack $ uriQuery uri
         }
   where
-    failUri :: MonadThrow m => String -> m a
-    failUri = throwM . InvalidUrlException (show uri)
-
     parseScheme URI{uriScheme = scheme} =
         case map toLower scheme of
             "http:"  -> return False
             "https:" -> return True
-            _        -> failUri "Invalid scheme"
+            _        -> Left "Invalid scheme"
 
     parsePort sec URIAuth{uriPort = portStr} =
         case portStr of
             -- If the user specifies a port, then use it
             ':':rest -> maybe
-                (failUri "Invalid port")
+                (Left "Invalid port")
                 return
                 (readDec rest)
             -- Otherwise, use the default port
diff --git a/http-client.cabal b/http-client.cabal
--- a/http-client.cabal
+++ b/http-client.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                http-client
-version:             0.6.0
+version:             0.6.1
 synopsis:            An HTTP client engine
 description:         Hackage documentation generation is not reliable. For up to date documentation, please see: <http://www.stackage.org/package/http-client>.
 homepage:            https://github.com/snoyberg/http-client