# Error Recovery Methodology Example

**Experiment**: bootstrap-003-error-recovery
**Domain**: Error Handling & Recovery
**Iterations**: 3 (Rapid Convergence)
**Error Categories**: 13 (95.4% coverage)
**Recovery Patterns**: 10
**Automation Tools**: 3 (23.7% errors prevented)

Example of rapid convergence (3 iterations) through strong baseline.

---

## Iteration 0: Comprehensive Baseline (120 min)

### Comprehensive Error Analysis

**Analyzed**: 1336 errors from session history

**Categories Created** (Initial taxonomy):
1. Build/Compilation (200, 15.0%)
2. Test Failures (150, 11.2%)
3. File Not Found (250, 18.7%)
4. File Size Exceeded (84, 6.3%)
5. Write Before Read (70, 5.2%)
6. Command Not Found (50, 3.7%)
7. JSON Parsing (80, 6.0%)
8. Request Interruption (30, 2.2%)
9. MCP Server Errors (228, 17.1%)
10. Permission Denied (10, 0.7%)

**Coverage**: 79.1% (1056/1336 categorized)

### Strong Baseline Results

- Comprehensive taxonomy (10 categories)
- Error frequency analysis
- Impact assessment per category
- Initial recovery pattern seeds

**V_instance = 0.60** (79.1% classification)
**V_meta = 0.35** (initial taxonomy, no tools yet)

**Key Success Factor**: 2-hour investment in Iteration 0 enabled rapid subsequent iterations

---

## Iteration 1: Patterns & Automation (90 min)

### Recovery Patterns (10 created)

1. Syntax Error Fix-and-Retry
2. Test Fixture Update
3. Path Correction (automatable)
4. Read-Then-Write (automatable)
5. Build-Then-Execute
6. Pagination for Large Files (automatable)
7. JSON Schema Fix
8. String Exact Match
9. MCP Server Health Check
10. Permission Fix

### First Automation Tools

**Tool 1**: validate-path.sh
- Prevents 163/250 file-not-found errors (65.2%)
- Fuzzy path matching
- ROI: 13.5 hours saved

**Tool 2**: check-file-size.sh
- Prevents 84/84 file-size errors (100%)
- Auto-pagination suggestions
- ROI: 14 hours saved

**Tool 3**: check-read-before-write.sh
- Prevents 70/70 write-before-read errors (100%)
- Workflow validation
- ROI: 2.3 hours saved

**Combined**: 317 errors prevented (23.7% of all errors)

### Results

**V_instance = 0.79** (improved classification)
**V_meta = 0.72** (10 patterns, 3 tools, high automation)

---

## Iteration 2: Taxonomy Refinement (75 min)

### Expanded Taxonomy

Added 2 categories:
11. Empty Command String (15, 1.1%)
12. Go Module Already Exists (5, 0.4%)

**Coverage**: 92.3% (1232/1336)

### Pattern Validation

- Tested recovery patterns on real errors
- Measured MTTR (Mean Time To Recovery)
- Documented diagnostic workflows

### Results

**V_instance = 0.85** ✓
**V_meta = 0.78** (approaching target)

---

## Iteration 3: Final Convergence (60 min)

### Completed Taxonomy

Added Category 13: String Not Found (Edit Errors) (43, 3.2%)

**Final Coverage**: 95.4% (1275/1336) ✅

### Diagnostic Workflows

Created 8 step-by-step diagnostic workflows for top categories

### Prevention Guidelines

Documented prevention strategies for all categories

### Results

**V_instance = 0.92** ✓ ✓ (2 consecutive ≥ 0.80)
**V_meta = 0.84** ✓ ✓ (2 consecutive ≥ 0.80)

**CONVERGED** in 3 iterations! ✅

---

## Rapid Convergence Factors

### 1. Strong Iteration 0 (2 hours)

**Investment**: 120 min (vs standard 60 min)
**Benefit**: Comprehensive error taxonomy from start
**Result**: Only 2 more categories added in subsequent iterations

### 2. High Automation Priority

**Created 3 tools in Iteration 1** (vs standard: 1 tool in Iteration 2)
**Result**: 23.7% error prevention immediately
**ROI**: 29.8 hours saved in first month

### 3. Clear Convergence Criteria

**Target**: 95% error classification
**Achieved**: 95.4% in Iteration 3
**No iteration wasted** on unnecessary refinement

---

## Key Metrics

**Time Investment**:
- Iteration 0: 120 min
- Iteration 1: 90 min
- Iteration 2: 75 min
- Iteration 3: 60 min
- **Total**: 5.75 hours

**Outputs**:
- 13 error categories (95.4% coverage)
- 10 recovery patterns
- 8 diagnostic workflows
- 3 automation tools (23.7% prevention)

**Speedup**:
- Error recovery: 11.25 min → 3 min MTTR (73% improvement)
- Error prevention: 317 errors eliminated (23.7%)

**Transferability**: 85-90% (taxonomy and patterns apply to most software projects)

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## Replication Tips

### To Achieve Rapid Convergence

**1. Invest in Iteration 0**
```
Standard: 60 min → 5-6 iterations
Strong: 120 min → 3-4 iterations

ROI: 1 hour extra → save 2-3 hours total
```

**2. Start Automation Early**
```
Don't wait for patterns to stabilize
If ROI > 3x, automate in Iteration 1
```

**3. Set Clear Thresholds**
```
Error classification: ≥ 95%
Pattern coverage: Top 80% of errors
Automation: ≥ 20% prevention
```

**4. Borrow from Prior Work**
```
Error categories are universal
Recovery patterns largely transferable
Start with proven taxonomy
```

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**Source**: Bootstrap-003 Error Recovery Methodology
**Status**: Production-ready, 3-iteration convergence
**Automation**: 23.7% error prevention, 73% MTTR reduction