---
id: 7969
title: Harden Agent Cognitive Loop (Reflection & Error Handling)
state: CLOSED
labels:
  - enhancement
  - ai
assignees:
  - tobiu
createdAt: '2025-12-01T16:04:23Z'
updatedAt: '2025-12-01T17:05:07Z'
githubUrl: 'https://github.com/neomjs/neo/issues/7969'
author: tobiu
commentsCount: 1
parentIssue: null
subIssues: []
subIssuesCompleted: 0
subIssuesTotal: 0
blockedBy: []
blocking: []
closedAt: '2025-12-01T17:03:14Z'
---
# Harden Agent Cognitive Loop (Reflection & Error Handling)

**Goal:** Harden the `Neo.ai.agent.Loop` implementation to be production-ready.
**Scope:**
1.  **Reflection Logic:** Implement the `reflect(event, result, actionResult)` phase in the loop.
2.  **Error Recovery:** Implement retry logic with exponential backoff and a Dead Letter Queue (`failedEvents`) for unrecoverable errors.
3.  **State Machine:** Formalize state transitions (`idle` <-> `thinking` <-> `acting`) with validation to prevent invalid states.
**Context:** Follow-up to Epic #7961. Feedback from code review.

## Timeline

- 2025-12-01T16:04:24Z @tobiu added the `enhancement` label
- 2025-12-01T16:04:24Z @tobiu added the `ai` label
- 2025-12-01T16:09:25Z @tobiu assigned to @tobiu
- 2025-12-01T17:02:51Z @tobiu referenced in commit `f89c9d5` - "Harden Agent Cognitive Loop (Reflection & Error Handling) #7969
Implement Context Window Compression #7970"
- 2025-12-01T17:03:15Z @tobiu closed this issue
- 2025-12-01T17:03:45Z @tobiu cross-referenced by #7971
### @tobiu - 2025-12-01T17:05:07Z

**Input from Gemini 2.5:**

> ✦ Implemented state machine validation, retry logic with exponential backoff, and dead letter queue.
> Verified with `ai/examples/test-loop-harden.mjs`.
> Closing as completed.


