Failure Taxonomy

Purpose

Classify every failure into a structured category before attempting repair. This prevents blind retries and enables targeted recovery recipes.

Core principle: Recovery before escalation — attempt one automatic fix per failure type before asking the user.

Taxonomy

Category	Detection Pattern	Severity	Auto-Recoverable?
compile	Build/type errors, syntax errors, missing imports	blocking	Yes — usually fixable from error output
test	Test suite failures, assertion errors	blocking	Partial — depends on cause
branch_divergence	Merge conflicts, stale branch, rebase needed	blocking	Yes — rebase or merge-forward
trust_gate	Security scan failures, secret leaks, CONFIDENCE.md gate failures	blocking	No — requires human review
mcp_startup	MCP server connection failures, handshake timeouts	degraded	Yes — retry once, then skip with warning
plugin_startup	Plugin configuration errors, missing dependencies	degraded	Partial — depends on config
infra	Deployment failures, environment issues, CI failures	blocking	No — usually requires manual intervention
prompt_delivery	Agent dispatch failures, context overflow, tool errors	degraded	Yes — reduce scope and retry

Classification Protocol

When encountering a failure:

1. Extract signal — Parse error output for keywords, file paths, exit codes
2. Match category — Use the detection rules below
3. Rate severity — blocking (stops progress) or degraded (can continue with reduced capability)
4. Select recipe — Load the matching recipe from recipes/{category}.md
5. Attempt recovery — Execute the recipe's auto-fix steps (ONE attempt only)
6. Report outcome — Emit a structured result: recovered, escalated, or skipped

Detection Rules

compile

Signals: "error TS", "SyntaxError", "Cannot find module", "does not exist",
         "expected expression", "Build failed", exit code from tsc/esbuild/webpack,
         "cargo build" failures, "rustc error", ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError

test

Signals: "FAIL", "AssertionError", "expected X but got Y", "test failed",
         "Tests: N failed", exit code from jest/vitest/pytest/cargo test,
         "0 passing" when tests expected

branch_divergence

Signals: "CONFLICT", "merge conflict", "diverged", "behind origin/main",
         "needs rebase", "cannot fast-forward", git status showing unmerged paths

trust_gate

Signals: "secret detected", "API key found", "CONFIDENCE.md gate FAIL" (after 2 attempts),
         security scan findings, "vulnerability found", eslint-plugin-security warnings

mcp_startup

Signals: "MCP server failed", "connection refused", "handshake timeout",
         "tool not available", MCP-related errors in session start output

plugin_startup

Signals: "plugin not found", "invalid plugin.json", "missing dependency",
         "hook failed to load", plugin initialization errors

infra

Signals: "deployment failed", "container exited", "health check failed",
         "environment variable not set", CI pipeline red, "permission denied" on deploy

prompt_delivery

Signals: "context too long", "token limit exceeded", "agent failed to respond",
         "tool call failed", timeout on agent dispatch, empty agent response

Structured Output

After classification, produce:

{
  "failure_type": "compile",
  "severity": "blocking",
  "signal": "error TS2304: Cannot find name 'UserProfile'",
  "source_file": "src/auth/middleware.ts",
  "source_line": 42,
  "auto_recoverable": true,
  "recipe": "recipes/compile.md",
  "recovery_attempted": false,
  "recovery_result": null
}

Integration Points

• Debugger agent — Classify before diagnosing. Add failure_type to the diagnosis report.
• PRD executor — Classify build/lint/type failures in Step 5. Use recipe before escalating.
• PRD verifier — Classify test failures. Distinguish test bugs from branch staleness.
• Lifecycle log — Emit failure.classified events with the structured output.

Anti-Loop Rule

Each failure type gets ONE automatic recovery attempt. If recovery fails:

• Emit recovery.escalated event
• Report to user with classification + what was tried + why it failed
• Do NOT retry the same recipe