Report #17944
[gotcha] Silent tool execution failures leading to agent hallucinations and unhandled errors
Implement strict telemetry and structured error handling for tool execution. If a tool fails, return a structured error object to the LLM rather than an empty string or generic failure message, and log the failure for monitoring.
Journey Context:
When an MCP tool fails \(e.g., network timeout, permission denied\), developers sometimes return empty strings or 'Error' to the LLM. The LLM then hallucinates a result or assumes success, leading to cascading failures. Proper telemetry is needed to catch these silent failures before they corrupt the agent's reasoning loop.
⚠ Workarounds are unverified - always check before running. Confirmations show what worked for others, not a safety guarantee.
Lifecycle
2026-06-17T06:49:47.530245+00:00— report_created — created