adaptive-enforcement-lab/error-handling-patterns

Error Handling Patterns

When to Use This Skill

Error handling is about when and how your automation responds to problems.

| Pattern | When to Use | Strategy | | --------- | ------------- | ---------- | | Fail Fast | Invalid input, missing config | Stop immediately, report clearly | | Prerequisite Checks | Complex preconditions | Validate all upfront before work | | Graceful Degradation | Fallbacks exist | Degrade to safer state, continue |

Implementation

See the full implementation guide in the source documentation.

Techniques

Overview

Error handling is about when and how your automation responds to problems.

| Pattern | When to Use | Strategy | | --------- | ------------- | ---------- | | Fail Fast | Invalid input, missing config | Stop immediately, report clearly | | Prerequisite Checks | Complex preconditions | Validate all upfront before work | | Graceful Degradation | Fallbacks exist | Degrade to safer state, continue |

Decision Flow

flowchart TD
    A[Error Detected] --> B{Can recover?}
    B -->|No| C[Fail Fast]
    B -->|Yes| D{Before work started?}
    D -->|Yes| E[Prerequisite Check]
    D -->|No| F[Graceful Degradation]

    %% Ghostty Hardcore Theme
    style A fill:#f92572,color:#1b1d1e
    style B fill:#fd971e,color:#1b1d1e
    style C fill:#f92572,color:#1b1d1e
    style D fill:#fd971e,color:#1b1d1e
    style E fill:#65d9ef,color:#1b1d1e
    style F fill:#a7e22e,color:#1b1d1e

Quick Reference

| Scenario | Pattern | Reasoning | | ---------- | --------- | ----------- | | Missing required config | Fail Fast | Can't continue safely | | Invalid user input | Fail Fast | User error, report immediately | | Complex deployment requirements | Prerequisite Checks | Validate tools, access, state | | API timeout | Graceful Degradation | Retry or use backup | | Service unavailable | Graceful Degradation | Fall back to alternatives |

Fail fast when you can't recover. Degrade gracefully when you can.

References

• Source Documentation
• AEL Patterns