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How do you stop endless agent retries?

Set scope, retries, budget and handoff conditions before execution.

The short answer

Repeated clicks after a challenge or uncertain response can create duplicate submissions. Stopping rules belong in the task design.

Try it in three steps

  • Specify file limits and retry limits.
  • Stop for charges, uncertain submissions or changed permissions.
  • Preserve progress and the smallest next action.

A practice prompt

Before you start

Draft stop rules without making paid calls.

Practice material (fictional)

Check 2 practice files, retry at most once per file, and report access, login or charge blockers before stopping the affected step.

Replace placeholders in the prompt with this material, or append the material if there are no placeholders. Reading time excludes doing the exercise.

Check at most five practice files with one retry per failure. Stop for login, payment or sending, and report progress.

What to look for (not a recorded test result)

Preserve successes, blockers and next steps. Retry instructions are not enforced spending controls; configure limits in the service where available.

If it goes wrong

Inspect the state of a stuck task instead of starting duplicates.

Check your result

Failures leave clear progress, reasons and a resumption point without loops.

References and scope

The links below support the concepts or product navigation. The steps and exercises are our teaching suggestions, not official certification or measured customer outcomes. Product interfaces and availability may change. References checked on 2026-10-17.

Start with one task

Describe the current process and its slowest step. The initial conversation is free.

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