Failure Classification
Whichever path runs, every inference failure is classified the moment it happens. The classification is what Tier 2 acts on, and it is what reaches you in the error output.
| Category | Meaning | Retried by Temporal? |
|---|---|---|
transient |
A brief, self-correcting failure (rate limit, 5xx, connection/timeout, transport errors) | ✅ Yes |
configuration |
The setup is wrong (bad API key, missing backend) | ❌ No |
content |
The input or prompt is wrong (content-policy violation) | ❌ No |
capacity |
Account quota or billing exhausted | ❌ No |
ambiguous |
Outcome unknown — the call may have committed | ❌ No |
unknown |
Could not classify | ❌ No |
Only transient failures are worth retrying — re-running a call that failed because your API key is wrong just wastes time and money. On the durable path, the activity retry policy uses exactly this signal: a transient failure retries, every other category fails fast.
For the full mechanics of how errors are classified, carried, and reported, see Error Model.