Verified65% confidenceSolutionExact time
When an MCP tool fails, returning a structured error (such as one containing error and detail fields) is more effective than throwing an exception that becomes a generic error message, and more capable models will self-recover based on detail.
3
Sources
65%
Confidence
Long-term
Relevance
10/19/2026
First Seen
Sources
Related Entities
Related Claims
UnverifiedThe self-repair mechanism requires error messages to be precise and actionable; a structured error list enumerating specific issues performs better than vague feedback.73% similarVerifiedTool error messages should be returned to the model as ordinary tool results, containing a plain-language explanation of the problem and what to do, and 'Do not retry' can stop the model from repeatedly retrying hopeless calls.72% similarUnverifiedPartially recoverable errors (such as a tool call failure where an alternative exists) should trigger a fallback path.72% similarUnverifiedError classification is a key step in the recovery process, and different error types point to different strategies: timeouts may be retryable, retrying authentication failures is useless, and permission errors require a different path.71% similarUnverifiedMisreporting tool execution errors as protocol errors causes the model to miss useful hint information and be unable to self-correct, causing the agent to stop or enter an infinite loop.71% similar
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