diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+# v1.0.1.8
+
+## Fixes
+
+- Fixed `connectFailureMessage` (used when the initial `connect(2)` fails, e.g. a missing Unix-socket directory) hand-rolling a TCP-shaped message - the raw `Show`n `IOException` prefixed with `"could not connect to server: "` and a `(Unix domain socket '<path>')` parenthetical appended - instead of reporting the failure the way libpq does. That hand-rolled text retained the literal prefix `"could not connect to server: "`, which is also the substring `Hasql.Connection`'s error classifier matches to identify a transient networking failure - so a permanent misconfiguration (missing socket directory) was misclassified as transient. The Unix-socket branch now delegates to `unixSocketFailureMessage`, extracting the underlying `IOException`'s `ioe_description` (the raw OS `strerror` text, e.g. `"No such file or directory"`) instead of embedding its whole `Show`n form, and appending the same `"Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?"` hint libpq appends for this failure - matching libpq's message for this case byte-for-byte. Also fixed `unixSocketFailureMessage` itself quoting the socket path with single quotes (`'<path>'`) instead of libpq's double quotes (`"<path>"`), which affects every message it formats, including the handshake-rejection path this Unix-socket branch now shares. Caught by the `pqi-conformance` spec `Pqi.Conformance.Operation.Connectdb.MissingUnixSocketDirectory`. Found via `hasql` issue #329.
+
 # v1.0.1.7
 
 ## Fixes
diff --git a/pqi-native.cabal b/pqi-native.cabal
--- a/pqi-native.cabal
+++ b/pqi-native.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 cabal-version: 3.0
 name: pqi-native
-version: 1.0.1.7
+version: 1.0.1.8
 category: Database, PostgreSQL
 synopsis: Native (pure-Haskell) adapter for pqi
 description:
@@ -158,5 +158,5 @@
   build-depends:
     base >=4.11 && <5,
     hspec >=2.11 && <2.12,
-    pqi-conformance ^>=1.0.7,
+    pqi-conformance ^>=1.0.8,
     pqi-native,
diff --git a/src/library/Pqi/Native/Connection.hs b/src/library/Pqi/Native/Connection.hs
--- a/src/library/Pqi/Native/Connection.hs
+++ b/src/library/Pqi/Native/Connection.hs
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import qualified Data.Map.Strict as Map
 import qualified Data.Sequence as Seq
 import qualified Data.Set as Set
+import GHC.IO.Exception (ioe_description)
 import Pqi (ConnStatus (..), Notify (..), PipelineStatus (..), Verbosity (..))
 import qualified Pqi.Native.Auth as Auth
 import Pqi.Native.Prelude
@@ -360,11 +361,11 @@
 connectFailureMessage :: ConnInfo -> IOException -> ByteString
 connectFailureMessage connInfo err
   | Transport.isUnixSocketHost (host connInfo) =
-      "could not connect to server: "
-        <> ByteString.Char8.pack (show err)
-        <> " (Unix domain socket '"
-        <> ByteString.Char8.pack (Transport.unixSocketPath (host connInfo) (port connInfo))
-        <> "')"
+      unixSocketFailureMessage
+        connInfo
+        ( ByteString.Char8.pack (ioe_description err)
+            <> "\n\tIs the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?\n"
+        )
   | otherwise = "could not connect to server: " <> ByteString.Char8.pack (show err)
 
 -- | Format a handshake-time 'IOException' - e.g. the server closing the
@@ -391,9 +392,9 @@
 -- host\/port pair, matching libpq's phrasing.
 unixSocketFailureMessage :: ConnInfo -> ByteString -> ByteString
 unixSocketFailureMessage connInfo fmtFields =
-  "connection to server on socket '"
+  "connection to server on socket \""
     <> ByteString.Char8.pack (Transport.unixSocketPath (host connInfo) (port connInfo))
-    <> "' failed: "
+    <> "\" failed: "
     <> fmtFields
 
 -- | The handshake-failure message for a TCP connection: includes the