import qualified Control.Monad.Fail as Fail

instance Monad Foo where
  (>>=) = {- ...bind impl... -}

  -- Provide legacy fail implementation for when
  -- new-style MonadFail desugaring is not enabled.
  fail = Fail.fail

instance Fail.MonadFail Foo where
  fail = {- ...fail implementation... -}

class Monad m => MonadFail m where Source

When a value is bound in do-notation, the pattern on the left hand side of <- might not match. In this case, this class provides a function to recover.

A Monad without a MonadFail instance may only be used in conjunction with pattern that always match, such as newtypes, tuples, data types with only a single data constructor, and irrefutable patterns (~pat).

Instances of MonadFail should satisfy the following law: fail s should be a left zero for >>=,

fail s >>= f  =  fail s

If your Monad is also MonadPlus, a popular definition is

fail _ = mzero

Since: base-4.9.0.0