openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Feature: Rich tool error messages with fix suggestions [1 participants]

Enhance tool error responses with contextual troubleshooting hints, similar text suggestions, and actionable fix steps. When tools fail, the current error messages are functional but minimal. Claude Code's approach includes structured "teachable moment" errors that help the model self-correct without needing another round of trial and error.

• Reduces back-and-forth tool call cycles (model self-corrects on first error)
• Claude Code: src/tools/FileEditTool/prompt.ts — structured error guidance
• Claw Code: Error context in tool result messages

TL;DR

Enhance error responses by adding contextual troubleshooting hints and actionable fix steps to improve user experience and reduce error correction cycles.

Guidance

• Review the proposed error message formats for file edit and exec commands to understand the desired structure and content of enhanced error responses.
• Identify common causes of errors, such as indentation mismatch, file changes, and whitespace differences, to provide relevant troubleshooting hints.
• Consider implementing a similar text suggestion feature to help users correct errors, such as suggesting installed or available commands.
• Develop a system to provide fix options, like including more surrounding lines or using multiple targeted edits, to empower users to resolve errors efficiently.

Example

// Example of a proposed error message format for file edit
const errorMessage = {
  message: 'old_text not found in file src/config.ts',
  commonCauses: [
    'Indentation mismatch (tabs vs spaces)',
    'File changed since you last read it',
    'Whitespace differences'
  ],
  similarText: {
    line: 42,
    text: '  const config = loadConfig();'
  },
  fix: 'Re-read the file and copy the exact text.'
};

Notes

The implementation details of the enhanced error response system will depend on the specific requirements and constraints of the project. It may be necessary to modify existing code or add new functionality to support the proposed error message formats and features.

Recommendation

Apply workaround by implementing the proposed error message formats and features, such as contextual troubleshooting hints and actionable fix steps, to improve user experience and reduce error correction cycles. This approach can be implemented incrementally, starting with the most common error scenarios and expanding to cover more cases over time.