diff --git a/nodehost.go b/nodehost.go
index 5a1f87e62..89961a670 100644
--- a/nodehost.go
+++ b/nodehost.go
@@ -478,14 +478,14 @@ func (nh *NodeHost) Stop() {
 // cluster.
 //
 // As a summary, when -
-//  - starting a brand new Raft cluster, set join to false and specify all initial
-//    member node details in the initialMembers map.
-//  - joining a new node to an existing Raft cluster, set join to true and leave
-//    the initialMembers map empty. This requires the joining node to have already
-//    been added as a member node of the Raft cluster.
-//  - restarting an crashed or stopped node, set join to false and leave the
-//    initialMembers map to be empty. This applies to both initial member nodes
-//    and those joined later.
+//   - starting a brand new Raft cluster, set join to false and specify all initial
+//     member node details in the initialMembers map.
+//   - joining a new node to an existing Raft cluster, set join to true and leave
+//     the initialMembers map empty. This requires the joining node to have already
+//     been added as a member node of the Raft cluster.
+//   - restarting an crashed or stopped node, set join to false and leave the
+//     initialMembers map to be empty. This applies to both initial member nodes
+//     and those joined later.
 func (nh *NodeHost) StartCluster(initialMembers map[uint64]Target,
 	join bool, create sm.CreateStateMachineFunc, cfg config.Config) error {
 	cf := func(clusterID uint64, nodeID uint64,
@@ -1520,17 +1520,17 @@ func (nh *NodeHost) getClusterSetIndex() uint64 {
 
 // there are three major reasons to bootstrap the cluster
 //
-// 1. when possible, we check whether user incorrectly specified parameters
-//    for the startCluster method, e.g. call startCluster with join=true first,
-//    then restart the NodeHost instance and call startCluster again with
-//    join=false and len(nodes) > 0
-// 2. when restarting a node which is a part of the initial cluster members,
-//    for user convenience, we allow the caller not to provide the details of
-//    initial members. when the initial cluster member info is required, however
-//    we still need to get the initial member info from somewhere. bootstrap is
-//    the procedure that records such info.
-// 3. the bootstrap record is used as a marker record in our default LogDB
-//    implementation to indicate that a certain node exists here
+//  1. when possible, we check whether user incorrectly specified parameters
+//     for the startCluster method, e.g. call startCluster with join=true first,
+//     then restart the NodeHost instance and call startCluster again with
+//     join=false and len(nodes) > 0
+//  2. when restarting a node which is a part of the initial cluster members,
+//     for user convenience, we allow the caller not to provide the details of
+//     initial members. when the initial cluster member info is required, however
+//     we still need to get the initial member info from somewhere. bootstrap is
+//     the procedure that records such info.
+//  3. the bootstrap record is used as a marker record in our default LogDB
+//     implementation to indicate that a certain node exists here
 func (nh *NodeHost) bootstrapCluster(initialMembers map[uint64]Target,
 	join bool, cfg config.Config,
 	smType pb.StateMachineType) (map[uint64]string, bool, error) {
@@ -1999,6 +1999,8 @@ func getRequestState(ctx context.Context, rs *RequestState) (sm.Result, error) {
 			return sm.Result{}, ErrClusterClosed
 		} else if r.Dropped() {
 			return sm.Result{}, ErrClusterNotReady
+		} else if r.Aborted() {
+			return sm.Result{}, ErrAborted
 		}
 		plog.Panicf("unknown v code %v", r)
 	case <-ctx.Done():
diff --git a/nodehost_test.go b/nodehost_test.go
index a850422ef..fd2b266b2 100644
--- a/nodehost_test.go
+++ b/nodehost_test.go
@@ -1537,6 +1537,56 @@ func TestRecoverFromSnapshotCanBeStopped(t *testing.T) {
 	runNodeHostTest(t, to, fs)
 }
 
+func TestGetRequestState(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		code RequestResultCode
+		err  error
+	}{
+		{requestCompleted, nil},
+		{requestRejected, ErrRejected},
+		{requestTimeout, ErrTimeout},
+		{requestTerminated, ErrClusterClosed},
+		{requestDropped, ErrClusterNotReady},
+		{requestAborted, ErrAborted},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		rs := &RequestState{
+			CompletedC: make(chan RequestResult, 1),
+		}
+		result := RequestResult{code: tt.code}
+		rs.notify(result)
+		if _, err := getRequestState(context.TODO(), rs); !errors.Is(err, tt.err) {
+			t.Errorf("expect error %v, got %v", tt.err, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGetRequestStateTimeoutAndCancel(t *testing.T) {
+	func() {
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Millisecond)
+		defer cancel()
+		time.Sleep(2 * time.Millisecond)
+		rs := &RequestState{
+			CompletedC: make(chan RequestResult, 1),
+		}
+		if _, err := getRequestState(ctx, rs); !errors.Is(err, ErrTimeout) {
+			t.Errorf("got %v", err)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	func() {
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Hour)
+		cancel()
+		rs := &RequestState{
+			CompletedC: make(chan RequestResult, 1),
+		}
+		if _, err := getRequestState(ctx, rs); !errors.Is(err, ErrCanceled) {
+			t.Errorf("got %v", err)
+		}
+	}()
+}
+
 func TestNodeHostIDIsStatic(t *testing.T) {
 	fs := vfs.GetTestFS()
 	id := ""
diff --git a/request.go b/request.go
index 0c0af1002..1c8aad6e7 100644
--- a/request.go
+++ b/request.go
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ var (
 	ErrCanceled = errors.New("request canceled")
 	// ErrRejected indicates that the request has been rejected.
 	ErrRejected = errors.New("request rejected")
+	// ErrAborted indicates that the request has been aborted, usually by user
+	// defined behaviours.
+	ErrAborted = errors.New("request aborted")
 	// ErrClusterNotReady indicates that the request has been dropped as the
 	// specified raft cluster is not ready to handle the request. Unknown leader
 	// is the most common cause of this error, trying to use a cluster not fully
@@ -115,7 +118,8 @@ func IsTempError(err error) bool {
 		err == ErrClusterNotInitialized ||
 		err == ErrClusterNotReady ||
 		err == ErrTimeout ||
-		err == ErrClosed
+		err == ErrClosed ||
+		err == ErrAborted
 }
 
 // RequestResultCode is the result code returned to the client to indicate the
diff --git a/request_test.go b/request_test.go
index daf218ee1..81eb3d462 100644
--- a/request_test.go
+++ b/request_test.go
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ func TestIsTempError(t *testing.T) {
 		{ErrTimeout, true},
 		{ErrCanceled, false},
 		{ErrRejected, false},
+		{ErrAborted, true},
 		{ErrClusterNotReady, true},
 		{ErrInvalidTarget, false},
 		{ErrInvalidNodeHostID, false},