The Shield of Retries: Safe Execution and Error Handling

# .github/workflows/agent-with-retries.yml
name: Agent with Resilient Execution

on:
  issues:
    types: [labeled]

jobs:
  agent-run:
    if: contains(github.event.label.name, 'copilot')
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 30          # ← Hard job timeout
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Attempt agent task with retries
        id: agent_task
        timeout-minutes: 15      # ← Per-step timeout
        env:
          RETRY_MAX: 3
          RETRY_DELAY: 10        # seconds
        run: |
          for attempt in $(seq 1 $RETRY_MAX); do
            echo "=== Attempt $attempt of $RETRY_MAX ==="
            
            if python3 work/gh-600/scripts/run_agent_task.py \
                --issue "$" \
                --output agent-result.json; then
              echo "✅ Agent task succeeded on attempt $attempt"
              echo "succeeded=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
              exit 0
            fi
            
            # Check if error is retryable
            ERROR_CODE=$(jq -r '.error_code // "unknown"' agent-result.json 2>/dev/null)
            if [[ "$ERROR_CODE" == "auth_error" || "$ERROR_CODE" == "scope_ambiguous" ]]; then
              echo "❌ Non-retryable error: $ERROR_CODE — escalating"
              echo "succeeded=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
              echo "error_code=$ERROR_CODE" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
              exit 1
            fi
            
            if [ "$attempt" -lt "$RETRY_MAX" ]; then
              DELAY=$((RETRY_DELAY * (2 ** (attempt - 1))))  # exponential backoff
              echo "⏳ Retryable error. Waiting ${DELAY}s before retry..."
              sleep "$DELAY"
            fi
          done
          
          echo "succeeded=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          echo "error_code=max_retries_exceeded" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          exit 1

      - name: Escalate on failure
        if: failure() || steps.agent_task.outputs.succeeded == 'false'
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            const errorCode = '$' || 'unknown';
            const runUrl = `https://github.com/$/actions/runs/$`;
            
            await github.rest.issues.createComment({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              issue_number: context.issue.number,
              body: `## 🚨 Agent Task Failed — Human Intervention Required\n\n` +
                `**Error code:** \`${errorCode}\`\n` +
                `**Run:** ${runUrl}\n\n` +
                `The agent could not complete this task. Please review the run logs ` +
                `and either clarify the task or complete it manually.\n\n` +
                `To retry with a clearer task description, close and reopen this issue ` +
                `with an updated body.`
            });

      - name: Add needs-human label on escalation
        if: failure()
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            // Ensure label exists
            try {
              await github.rest.issues.createLabel({
                owner: context.repo.owner,
                repo: context.repo.repo,
                name: 'needs-human',
                color: 'FF4444',
                description: 'Agent requires human intervention'
              });
            } catch (e) { /* label already exists */ }
            
            // Apply label to issue
            await github.rest.issues.addLabels({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              issue_number: context.issue.number,
              labels: ['needs-human']
            });