Error Recovery Patterns Skill
What to do when things break.
Recovery Hierarchy
Prevent → Detect → Contain → Recover → Learn
Retry Rules
| Retry | Don't Retry |
|---|---|
| Network timeouts | Validation errors (400) |
| Rate limits (429) | Auth failures (401, 403) |
| Server errors (5xx) | Not found (404) |
| Connection refused | Business logic errors |
Retry with Backoff
typescript
const delay = baseDelay * Math.pow(2, attempt - 1); const jitter = Math.random() * 0.3 * delay; await sleep(delay + jitter);
Circuit Breaker States
CLOSED → (failures > threshold) → OPEN → (timeout) → HALF-OPEN → (success) → CLOSED
Fallback Patterns
| Pattern | Use Case |
|---|---|
| Default value | Config loading |
| Cached value | Data fetch failure |
| Degraded service | Non-critical features |
typescript
const result = await primary().catch(() => fallback());
Rollback Patterns
| Pattern | Use Case |
|---|---|
| DB transaction | Atomic operations |
| Saga (compensate) | Distributed transactions |
| Feature flag | Instant rollback |
Error Boundaries
Contain failures to prevent cascade. Catch at component boundaries, log, show fallback UI.
Synapses
See synapses.json for connections.