Taxonomy

Agent Compass uses a comprehensive taxonomy to categorize different types of errors and issues that can occur during agent execution. This taxonomy helps in systematically identifying, understanding, and addressing various failure modes.

Following is an exhaustive list of error categories and their subcategories that are currently being used.

Thinking & Response Issues

Mistakes in understanding, reasoning, factual grounding, or output formatting.

Subcategory	Error Type	Description
Hallucination Errors	Hallucinated Content	Output includes information that is invented or not supported by input data.
	Ungrounded Summary	Summary includes claims not found in the retrieved chunks or original context.
Information Processing	Poor Chunk Match	Retrieved irrelevant or unrelated context.
	Wrong Chunk Used	Response based on wrong part of retrieved content.
	Tool Output Misinterpretation	Misread or misunderstood the output returned by a tool or API.
Decision Errors	Wrong Intent	Misunderstood the core user goal or instruction.
	Tool Misuse	Used a tool incorrectly or in the wrong context.
	Wrong Tool Chosen	Selected an inappropriate tool for the task.
	Invalid Tool Params	Passed malformed, missing, or incorrect parameters to a tool.
	Missed Detail	Skipped a key part of the user prompt or prior context.
Format & Instruction	Bad Format	Output is not valid JSON, CSV, or code.
	Instruction Adherence	Didn’t follow instruction or style.

Safety & Security Risks

Any output or behavior that may cause harm, leak personal data, or violate security best practices.

Subcategory	Error Type	Description
Ethical Violations	Unsafe Advice	Could lead to harm if followed.
	PII Leak	Sensitive personal info exposed in output.
	Biased Output	Stereotyped, unfair, or discriminatory content.
Security Failures	Token Exposure	Secrets, API keys, or auth tokens were exposed in output or logs.
	Insecure API Usage	Used HTTP instead of HTTPS, skipped auth headers, or lacked rate limits.

Tool & System Failures

Errors due to tool, API, environment, or runtime failures.

Subcategory	Error Type	Description
Setup Errors	Tool Missing	Tool not registered or available.
	Tool Misconfigured	Tool or API setup is incorrect (e.g., bad schema, invalid registration).
	Env Incomplete	Missing tokens, secrets, or setup environment variables.
Tool/API Failures	Rate Limit	Too many requests hit the limit.
	Auth Fail	Authentication to tool or service failed.
	Server Crash	Tool/API returned internal error.
	Resource Not Found	Requested endpoint or resource does not exist or is not reachable.
Runtime Limits	Out of Memory	RAM or resource limit breached.
	Timeout	Execution took too long and was halted.

Workflow & Task Gaps

Breakdowns in multi-step task execution, orchestration, or memory.

Subcategory	Error Type	Description
Context Loss	Dropped Context	Missed relevant past messages or data.
	Overuse	Unnecessary context/tools invoked.
Retrieval Errors	Poor Chunk Match	Retrieved irrelevant or unrelated context.
	Wrong Chunk Used	Response based on wrong part of retrieved content.
	No Retrieval	Failed to run retrieval when needed.
Task Flow Issues	Goal Drift	Strayed from intended objective.
	Step Disorder	Steps executed out of logical order.
	Redundant Steps	Repeated same tool or action unnecessarily.
	Task Orchestration Failure	Agent failed to plan or interleave actions properly across tools or steps.
Trace Completion	Incomplete Task	No final result or closure.

Reflection Gaps

Agent failed to engage in introspective reasoning or revise steps appropriately.

Error Type	Description
Missing CoT	No intermediate thinking steps (Chain of Thought) were used to justify actions.
Missing ReAct Planning	Agent failed to interleave reasoning with action; took action without planning.
Lack of Self-Correction	Agent didn’t revise response or plan after detecting error or contradiction.

Get Started

Guides

Thinking & Response Issues

Safety & Security Risks

Tool & System Failures

Workflow & Task Gaps

Reflection Gaps

​Thinking & Response Issues

​Safety & Security Risks

​Tool & System Failures

​Workflow & Task Gaps

​Reflection Gaps

Thinking & Response Issues

Safety & Security Risks

Tool & System Failures

Workflow & Task Gaps

Reflection Gaps