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motief/.mindmodel/patterns/error-handling.md

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---
title: Error Handling Pattern
category: patterns
---
# Error Handling Pattern
## Rules
- Use explicit exceptions for domain/error classification (e.g., ProviderError, ValueError).
- Prefer logging.exception when catching an exception where stack trace is useful.
- Avoid broad except: clauses that swallow exceptions; if broad except is used for "best-effort" fallback, log at warning and include original exception context.
- For public library-like functions, prefer raising typed exceptions instead of returning magic values ([], False) — only return safe defaults where documented.
## Examples
### ai_provider.py - Network error to ProviderError
```python
except requests.ConnectionError as exc:
if attempt == retries:
raise ProviderError(
f"Connection error when calling provider: {exc}"
) from exc
...
```
### pipeline/ai_provider_wrapper.py - Best-effort with logging
```python
except Exception:
_logger.exception("Failed to append audit event for embedding failure")
results[j] = None
```
### similarity/compute.py - Defensive import handling
```python
try:
import duckdb
except Exception:
logger.exception("duckdb import failed; cannot load vectors")
return 0
```
## Anti-Patterns
### Bad: Silent exception swallowing
```python
try:
do_work()
except Exception:
return []
# BAD: hides the root cause and returns an ambiguous default
```
**Remediation**: Narrow exception types or at minimum log.exception() and re-raise or convert to a domain error if truly handled.
### Bad: Mixing print() and logging
**Problem**: Mixing print() and logging for errors.
**Remediation**: Replace print() calls with logger.* calls; use structured logging configuration.