AB why-did-my-request-fail
Why did my request fail? Should I retry, wait, or switch tools? Use this before retrying a failed web_fetch, API call, browser request or network exec — especially after a timeout, 401, 403, 429 or 5xx, or after two unsuccessful attempts. Diagnoses the host from this machine's observed requests: refusal/blocking, rate limiting, outage, unreachable, or a malformed request. Returns exactly RETRY_AFTER_FIXING_REQUEST, BACKOFF, SWITCH_TOOL, STOP or TRY_ONCE, with evidence, success probability and bounds, back-off seconds, and the tool most likely to work on this host. Do not use for a first failure with no repetition and a clear input error (400 with a message) — fix the input.
Why did my request fail?
As a process B 73/100 · Nearly there — weak spots: inputs and preconditions, running it twice
How to improve
- Your own cases (evals/evals.json, 4–6 real requests with expected answers): the full check would then run those instead of a model-drafted suite.
- A spec.yaml with trigger phrases and assertions — a behaviour contract for CI; `skilltest init` writes a template.
Guard findings · 0
✓ No critical or high findings
Files scanned: 2. Evidence is masked. Grey chips explain why severity was lowered.
Against the Agent Skills spec
- note
frontmatter-keyunknown frontmatter key "homepage"
Process rating: all ten parameters 73/100
- 30Inputs and preconditions. Does not say what the process needs to start
- 30Running it twice. 5 mutating operations with no state check
- 50When it triggers. No condition that starts the skill
- 50Failures and branches. 0 branches, has a failure section
- 60Result and completion. Output format stated, no completion criterion
- 100Tools and files. No external tools needed
- 100Steps. 22 steps
- 100Consistency. Name and required fields are in place
- 100Execution cost. Instruction body is 1325 tokens
- 100Progress reporting. Reports progress
Everything here is measured from the skill text rather than judged by a model, so the numbers are checkable. A parameter weighs more when it is a more common reason for the process to stall.
Quality signals
- +5Description has no quoted example phrases that should trigger the skill
- +2Single-language instructions
- +4Description says when NOT to use the skill
- +3Description length 682: enough signal without eating the budget
- +4Structure: 7 headings
- +3Step-by-step instructions: 22 items
- +3Output format is stated explicitly
- +4Has examples (1 code blocks)
- +1License stated
Quality base 70; lint remarks subtract, signals add up to 100. Result: 91.