claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] Claude silently ends turn on Edit tool failure instead of retrying or continuing plan [2 comments, 2 participants]

[Critical / Blocking] Claude silently ends the turn when Edit tool returns "Error editing file" — no recovery, no follow-through on the remaining planned steps When the Edit tool fails with "Error editing file," Claude goes silent and ends the turn, even though it just announced a multi-step plan moments earlier. It does not 2. The first Edit call fails with "Error editing file" (e.g. old_string not unique, whitespace mismatch).

• Blocks real work — user has to babysit every tool error.
• Tool-error recovery should be default behavior, especially mid-plan.
• Add an explicit system-prompt rule: "A tool error is a step to recover from, not a signal to end the turn."
• Or: make the Edit tool's error message more actionable (state whether old_string was not unique / not found / whitespace-mismatched) so the model can retry

TL;DR

Implement tool-error recovery as default behavior, especially mid-plan, to prevent Claude from ending the turn silently when the Edit tool returns an "Error editing file" message.

Guidance

• Review the Edit tool's error handling to determine why it's causing Claude to end the turn prematurely.
• Consider adding an explicit system-prompt rule to treat tool errors as recoverable steps rather than turn-end signals.
• Enhance the Edit tool's error message to provide more actionable information, such as specifying whether the old_string was not unique, not found, or had a whitespace mismatch, to enable more accurate retries.
• Investigate the feasibility of implementing a retry mechanism with adjustable context, replace_all, or chunk sizes to handle failed Edit calls.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue does not contain sufficient technical details to generate a specific example.

Notes

The suggested fix implies that the current behavior is not configurable, and a code change might be necessary to implement the desired recovery mechanism. The issue's reproducibility across sessions suggests a systemic problem rather than an isolated incident.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by modifying the Edit tool's error handling to provide more informative error messages, allowing for more targeted retries, until a more comprehensive tool-error recovery mechanism can be implemented.