[Code Quality] Implement error recovery patterns for common retry loop scenarios

[github-actions]

Description

Analysis of Copilot agent sessions shows that 23% of sessions (3 out of 13 analyzed) exhibit retry loop patterns, indicating repeated attempts to complete the same operation. This wastes compute resources and degrades user experience.

Current State

Sessions with retry loops identified:

• Session 21467541281
• Session 21467603631
• Session 21467413895

Common retry scenarios:

• Installation retries
• Dependency resolution failures
• Initialization attempts

Proposed Changes

Add proactive error recovery for the most common retry scenarios:

1. Installation Failures

// Detect installation failures and provide fallback strategies
// Example: npm install retry with cache clearing
if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "installation failed") {
    log.Printf("Installation failed, attempting recovery...")
    // Clear cache and retry once
}

2. Dependency Resolution

// Implement smart dependency resolution with fallbacks
// Example: Try multiple package registries

3. API Timeouts

// Add exponential backoff for API calls
// Example: GitHub API rate limiting

Implementation Strategy

1. Analyze existing retry patterns - Review logs from the 3 identified sessions
2. Categorize failure types - Group by root cause (network, permissions, resources)
3. Add recovery handlers - Implement specific handlers for each category
4. Add circuit breakers - Prevent infinite retry loops (max 3 attempts)
5. Improve logging - Make retry attempts visible in debug logs

Files to Investigate

• Session logs for runs 21467541281, 21467603631, 21467413895
• Installation/setup code in actions/setup/
• Dependency management code in workflow execution

Success Criteria

• Retry loop detection rate reduced from 23% to <10%
• Common scenarios (install, dependencies, API) have recovery handlers
• Circuit breakers prevent infinite loops (max 3 retries)
• Debug logging shows recovery attempts
• Overall session success rate improves

Priority

High - Affects 23% of analyzed sessions, wastes compute resources

Source

Extracted from Daily Copilot Agent Session Analysis — 2026-01-29

Estimated Effort

2-3 days - Requires log analysis, pattern detection, and handler implementation

Related Metrics

• Current retry loop rate: 23% (3/13 sessions)
• Target retry loop rate: <10%
• Potential compute savings: ~15-20% reduction in wasted runs

AI generated by Discussion Task Miner - Code Quality Improvement Agent

• expires on Feb 12, 2026, 9:15 AM UTC

[github-actions]

🍪 Issue Monster has assigned this to Copilot!

I've identified this issue as a good candidate for automated resolution and assigned it to the Copilot agent.

The Copilot agent will analyze the issue and create a pull request with the fix.

Om nom nom! 🍪

AI generated by Issue Monster