[deathanatos]

> but in production you may want it off to reduce strange side-effects

Having -e set is to reduce strange side-effects, by having the script fail, instead of plowing headlong into the land of undefined/unexpected behavior.

> See https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/105 for examples of side effects.

The `if` bit should be well-known if you're writing bash. The pipe bit is unfortunate, and is why -o pipefail is recommended, too. Or, just writing in a sane language that isn't going to page you in the middle of the night.