resilient-execution

Overview

The resilient-execution skill prevents premature failure by enforcing a minimum of 3 genuinely different approaches before escalating to the user. It provides a structured error classification system, an approach cascade methodology, and transparent logging of each attempt. Without this skill, agents give up too early — with it, they systematically exhaust alternatives and only escalate with full evidence.

Announce at start: "I'm using the resilient-execution skill — I will try multiple approaches before escalating."

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Phase 1: Error Classification

When an approach fails, immediately classify the error before retrying:

Error Type	Definition	Indicators	Correct Response
Transient	Temporary infrastructure failure	Network timeout, rate limit, 503 error, lock contention	Wait briefly, retry the same approach
Environmental	Missing or misconfigured dependency	Module not found, wrong version, missing env var, permission denied	Fix the environment, then retry same approach
Logical	Wrong approach or incorrect assumption	Wrong output, unexpected behavior, type mismatch, wrong API usage	Rethink the approach entirely
Fundamental	Genuinely impossible with available tools	API does not exist, hardware limitation, missing capability	Escalate to user with evidence

STOP: Classify the error before choosing your next approach. Wrong classification leads to wasted retries.

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Phase 2: Approach Cascade

Execute the cascade systematically. Each attempt must be a genuinely different strategy.

Attempt 1: Primary approach (most direct solution)
    | fails
    v
Classify error -> Can same approach work with a fix?
    | YES -> Fix and retry (does NOT count as a new attempt)
    | NO  -> Proceed to Attempt 2
    v
Attempt 2: Alternative approach 1 (different technique)
    | fails
    v
Classify error -> Is this fundamentally blocked?
    | YES -> Proceed directly to escalation
    | NO  -> Proceed to Attempt 3
    v
Attempt 3: Alternative approach 2 (different path entirely)
    | fails
    v
Circuit breaker -> Present findings to user with full evidence