Home / codybrom / clairvoyance · skills/error-design/SKILL.md · GitHub

error-design skillA

error-design is agent-read markdown (skill) from codybrom/clairvoyance: Reviews error handling and exception design, applying the "define errors out of existence" principle. Use when reviewing error handling, when a module throws too many exceptions, or when callers must handle errors they shouldn't need to know about. Not for general caller-burden complexity (use pull-complexity-down); this skill is specifically for exception and error-condition strategy..

Indexed from public GitHub and served as immutable, content-addressed versions. Install it pinned to an exact SHA-256 with the mdr CLI, and every file is verified against the hash recorded here before it reaches your agent. The deterministic audit below grades the latest version, and the same file always earns the same grade.

What the file says

# Error Design Review Lens

When invoked with $ARGUMENTS, focus the analysis on the specified file or module. Read the target code first, then apply the checks below.

**Each exception a module throws is an interface element.** The best way to deal with exceptions is to not have them.

## The "Too Many Exceptions" Anti-Pattern

Programmers are often taught that "the more errors detected, the better," but this produces an over-defensive style that throws exceptions for anything suspicious. Throwing is easy. Handling is hard. Each exception type in a module's interface is one more thing callers must understand and prepare for, making the class shallower than it needs to be. Exception handlers are rarely exercised in practice, which means bugs in them accumulate silently. When a handler is finally needed, it may not work.

## When to Apply

- Reviewing error handling code or exception hierarchies
- When a function has many error cases or throws many exception types
- When callers are burdened with handling errors that rarely occur
- When error handling code is longer than the happy path

## Core Principles

### The Decision Tree
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

Latest version
mdr add codybrom/clairvoyance/error-design@git:20260722.fcfda01
Exact content
mdr add codybrom/clairvoyance/error-design@sha256:6a78f8fc8f4e1b8b

Pin to a label to follow the author's releases, or to a sha256 to freeze the exact bytes forever. Either way the resolved hash is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install reproduces it on any machine.

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Versions

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20260722.fcfda01 latest2026-07-22 fcfda01 6,312 BA view · diff
git:20260701.ba096c52026-07-01 ba096c5 6,426 BA view · diff
git:20260301.1854d202026-03-01 1854d20 6,248 BA view · diff
git:20260227.455211b2026-02-27 455211b 6,372 BA view · diff
git:20260227.e9a96292026-02-27 e9a9629 6,373 BA view

Audit of the latest version

A  17 of 17 checks passed. Deterministic, no model, same answer every run.
  • pass: Frontmatter block present
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a name
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a description
  • pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (6312 bytes)
  • pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
  • pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
  • pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
  • pass: No credential-shaped string
  • pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
  • pass: No text hidden with inline styles
  • pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
  • pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
  • pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
  • pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
  • pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
  • pass: No link to a raw IP address
  • pass: No script tag

Source

GitHub

codybrom/clairvoyance · 12 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-09-20 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_ib34xecaub4bhaso
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=codybrom/clairvoyance/error-design
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/6a78f8fc8f4e1b8b62c3b9d65d56384d8a8b24cd417c9466742fc91c76e1c531

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