CCARF Practice Question

Paper 5 · Question 3

D5 Context Management & Reliability · Paper 5

[Scenario: Multi-agent Research System] A document analysis subagent frequently fails when processing PDF files: some have corrupted sections that trigger parsing exceptions, others are password-protected, and sometimes the parsing library hangs on large files. Currently, any exception immediately terminates the subagent and returns an error to the coordinator, which must decide whether to retry, skip, or fail the whole task. This causes excessive coordinator involvement in routine error handling. What architectural improvement is most effective? Which improvement is most effective?

• A.Create a dedicated error-handling agent that monitors all failures via a shared queue and decides recovery actions, sending restart commands directly to subagents.
• B.Configure the subagent to always return partial results with a success status, embedding error details in metadata; the coordinator treats all responses as successful.
• C.Make the coordinator validate all documents before sending them to the subagent, rejecting documents that might cause failures.
• D.Implement local recovery in the subagent for transient failures and escalate to the coordinator only errors it cannot resolve, including attempted steps and partial results.

Show answer & explanations

Correct answer: D

A: A dedicated error agent that restarts other agents adds coordination for failures the document subagent can already classify.

B: A success status with the error buried in metadata hides the failure. The coordinator cannot tell a real summary from a swallowed exception.

C: The coordinator cannot reliably predict corruption, passwords, or hangs before the parser runs. That check just moves routine recovery to the wrong layer.

D: Handle errors at the lowest level capable of resolving them. Local recovery reduces coordinator workload while still escalating truly unrecoverable issues with full context and partial progress.

Related Context Management & Reliability questions

More: Paper 5 · All practice questions