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Tool Execution & Results

Master invocation patterns, result handling, and error management for reliable AI agents

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Error Management: Building Resilient Agents

Tools fail. Networks drop. Services crash. The difference between a fragile agent and a production-ready one is how it handles failures—gracefully, intelligently, and transparently.

Error management isn't just catching exceptions—it's building resilience through strategic retry logic, fallbacks, and circuit breakers.

Interactive: Retry Simulator

Watch a retry strategy handle transient failures

Attempt: 0/3
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Attempt 1
Wait 1s
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Attempt 2
Wait 2s
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Attempt 3
Wait 4s

Error Handling Strategies

Exponential backoff retry strategy
async function executeWithRetry(tool, maxRetries = 3) {
  for (let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++) {
    try {
      return await tool.execute()
    } catch (error) {
      if (i === maxRetries - 1) throw error
      const delay = Math.pow(2, i) * 1000
      await sleep(delay)
    }
  }
}
Use When:
  • •Network failures
  • •Rate limits
  • •Transient errors
Example Flow:
API timeout → Wait 1s → Retry → Wait 2s → Retry → Success
✓ Advantages
  • •Handles temporary failures
  • •Configurable attempts
  • •Exponential delays
⚠ Limitations
  • •Can delay response
  • •May waste resources
  • •Not for all error types

Error Types & Strategies

🌐
Network Errors
Recoverable
Examples: Connection timeout, DNS failure, Network unreachable
→ Retry with backoff
🔐
Authentication
Recoverable
Examples: Invalid API key, Expired token, Permission denied
→ Refresh credentials or fail fast
🚦
Rate Limiting
Recoverable
Examples: 429 Too Many Requests, Quota exceeded
→ Exponential backoff, respect Retry-After
❌
Validation Errors
Non-recoverable
Examples: Invalid parameters, Schema mismatch, Bad request
→ Fail immediately, report to agent
⚠️
Service Errors
Recoverable
Examples: 500 Internal Error, Service unavailable, Database failure
→ Fallback or circuit breaker
⏰
Timeout
Recoverable
Examples: Request timeout, Gateway timeout, Slow response
→ Retry or use cached data
←Result Handling