regression-io/claude-config-plugins/error-handling

Error Handling Rules

Fail Fast Principle

• Validate inputs at system boundaries immediately
• Throw exceptions for unexpected states, don't return error codes
• Use assertions for programming errors (should never happen)
• Use exceptions for runtime errors (might happen)

Exception Design

• Create specific exception types for different error categories
• Include contextual information in error messages
• Never catch generic exceptions unless re-throwing
• Clean up resources in finally blocks or use RAII/context managers

Error Messages

• Include: what happened, why it happened, how to fix it
• Log technical details, show user-friendly messages
• Never expose stack traces or internal paths to users
• Use structured logging with correlation IDs

Recovery Strategies

• Implement retry with exponential backoff for transient failures
• Use circuit breakers for failing dependencies
• Define fallback behavior for non-critical features
• Graceful degradation over complete failure

Async Error Handling

• Always handle promise rejections
• Use try/catch with async/await
• Propagate errors through async boundaries properly
• Consider timeout handling for all async operations

Logging Levels

• ERROR: System cannot perform a function (needs attention)
• WARN: Unexpected but handled (monitor for patterns)
• INFO: High-level flow (audit trail)
• DEBUG: Detailed diagnostics (development only)