Agent Recovery

Protocols for when the agent is stuck, context is degraded, or session needs migration.

When to Use

• Agent is making repeated mistakes
• Long conversation causing hallucinations
• Need to hand off to fresh agent
• Context window is full

---

Option 1: Escalate (Handoff Report)

Use when: Agent is stuck and can't solve the problem.

Steps

1. Undo broken changes:

git status
git checkout -- .

2. Generate docs/escalation_report.md:

# Escalation Handoff Report

**Generated:** [Date/Time]
**Original Issue:** [GitHub Issue # or description]

## PART 1: THE DAMAGE REPORT

### 1.1 Original Goal
[The task you were asked to complete]

### 1.2 Observed Failure
[EXACT error message]

### 1.3 Failed Approach
[Strategy you attempted]

### 1.4 Key Files Involved
- `path/to/file1.ts`

### 1.5 Best-Guess Diagnosis
[Why approach failed]

## PART 2: FULL FILE CONTENTS
[EMBED entire content of each file]

## PART 3: DIRECTIVE FOR ORCHESTRATOR
1. Analyze the failure
2. Formulate a new plan
3. Execute or hand off

3. Open new session and paste the report content.

---

Option 2: Migrate (Context Snapshot)

Use when: Chat is stale, need fresh session with same context.

Auto-Detect Context

cat docs/Project_Requirements.md 2>/dev/null
git log --oneline -20
gh issue list --state open --limit 10 --json number,title
cat docs/Coding_Guidelines.md 2>/dev/null

Generate docs/migration_snapshot.md:

# State Snapshot Handoff Prompt

## To the New AI: Adopt This Identity
You are the **VibeCode Project Orchestrator**...

## Project Details
- **Name:** [from PRD]
- **Stack:** [from PRD]

## Milestones
[From git log]

## Current Status
- In Progress: [from GitHub]
- Next: [from roadmap]

## Key Files
- `docs/Project_Requirements.md`
- `docs/Coding_Guidelines.md`

## First Action
Read files above, then ask: "What would you like to work on next?"

---

Option 3: Reset (Mid-Conversation)

Use when: Agent is making mistakes but can recover.

🛑 HARD STOP CHECKLIST

□ Did I READ the target file with view_file BEFORE editing?
□ Did I copy the EXACT target content, including whitespace?
□ Am I editing LESS than 50 lines at a time?
□ Did I verify all variable names exist in scope?
□ Did I check props are destructured in function signature?

Common Mistakes

| Pattern | Fix | |---------|-----| | Duplicate lines | Read file first, count declarations | | Missing destructuring | Check props signature | | Broken JSX | Close tags in same edit | | Phantom variables | grep in file before using | | Edit offset drift | Re-read file after each edit |

File Edit Protocol

1. view_file_outline → Understand structure
2. view_file (exact range) → Copy PRECISE content
3. Make edit with MINIMAL scope
4. Re-check file before next edit

Verified Completion

Before saying "done":

npx tsc --noEmit  # MUST pass

• No duplicate declarations?
• No missing imports?
• Task actually solved?

If errors persist after 3 fix attempts → use Escalate.