Make errors a way forward

A failure should say what happened and what a caller can safely do next.

Is Agenticis-agentic.com
The score is an at-a-glance summary; the individual checks and evidence are the useful part of the report.
MethodologyRead docs ↗

Notes from the Is Agentic checks and report format.

Fail in a useful shape

Choose a failure and read what the client can do next.

Dead endBad
{ error: "Something went wrong" }
Recovery contractGood
application/problem+json
return Response.json({
  type: 'https://example.com/problems/report-not-found',
  title: 'Report not found',
  status: 404,
  code: 'report_not_found',
  detail: 'No completed report is stored for this URL.',
  resolution: 'Start the linked scan, then retry.',
}, {
  status: 404,
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/problem+json' },
});

Why it matters, pros and cons

Why it matters

A vague error turns recovery into guesswork. Stable codes and plain next steps let callers recover without scraping copy.

Pros

  • Agents can branch on the code.
  • People can understand the detail.
  • Retry behavior becomes explicit.

Cons

  • Do not leak private state through errors.
  • Codes become an API you must maintain.
  • A recovery hint must be safe, not merely possible.