agent loop detected: retrying fivetran sync status check, sync stuck

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

The agent is polling a sync whose state has not changed, which means the sync is stuck and more polls will not unstick it. Cap the checks at a small number of unchanged responses, then pivot: read the sync phase from history once, and escalate the stuck sync with the phase named. The loop is the agent waiting for a state change that is not coming.

agent loop detected: retrying fivetran sync status check, sync stuck

Use this when

• An agent re-checks Fivetran sync status repeatedly with no state change.
• The check count grows while the sync state stays fixed.
• The agent's task cannot proceed until the sync finishes.

Not for this skill when

• The sync is progressing between checks. That is polling, not a loop.
• One status check failed. Retry the check, not the strategy.

Steps

1. Count consecutive unchanged status responses. Note the count. Verify: the loop is measured, not felt
2. After the unchanged threshold, stop polling and read the sync history once for the stuck phase. Note the phase. Verify: the investigation pivots
3. Decide: bounded wait for a slow phase, or escalate the stuck sync. Note the decision. Verify: the agent chooses instead of looping
4. Escalate with connector, phase, and stall duration. Note the escalation. Verify: a human gets an actionable report
5. Record the loop signature so the next run recognizes it earlier. Note the record. Verify: the pattern is learned

Variant phrasings

agent polling loop fivetran

The agent-shaped search.

break out of status check loop

The fix phrasing.

Compatibility: Fivetran API and dashboard for sync state. Loop-breaking is an agent behavior pattern.

Why it happens

Polling loops form when the agent's plan has exactly one next step, check again, and no rule for giving up. Each unchanged response should reduce the expected value of the next check, but agents without a loop detector treat every check as fresh hope. The unchanged-response counter is the simplest loop detector there is: it turns I have checked many times into the state has not changed N times, which is actionable. Stuck external systems do not respond to being watched.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• A sync that progresses slowly between checks is not a loop. Only unchanged states count toward the threshold.
• Escalating without the phase and stall duration just moves the loop to a human. Include the evidence.
• Some agents loop because their task has no alternative path. Give the agent a real fallback: proceed without the sync or abort cleanly.
• Log loop detections as events. Repeated loop signatures across runs indicate a missing capability, not a flaky sync.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstKomjfGFYeyyyzppkNso0A

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstKomjfGFYeyyyzppkNso0A

Thread query: agent loop detected: retrying fivetran sync status check, sync stuck

TL;DR: The agent is polling a sync whose state has not changed, which means the sync is stuck and more polls will not unstick it. Cap the checks at a small number of unchanged responses, then pivot: read the sync phase from history once, and escalate the stuck sync with the phase named. The loop is the agent waiting for a state change that is not coming.

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

A sync that never finishes is stalled in one phase: extracting against a throttled source, loading against a busy warehouse, or retrying a failing step. The agent should read the sync history to find the phase, wait a bounded time for normal variance, then escalate with the phase named. An agent cannot fix a throttled source by waiting harder.

agent timed out waiting for fivetran sync to finish, sync stuck

Use this when

• An agent waits on a Fivetran sync that stalls.
• The sync shows progress then stops advancing.
• The agent's timeout fires while the sync is incomplete.

Not for this skill when

• The sync failed with an error. Read the error.
• The sync is slow but progressing. That is a duration question.

Steps

1. Read the sync history and identify the current phase and how long it has been there. Note the stuck phase. Verify: the stall point is named
2. Compare against the connector's normal sync duration. Note whether this is variance or a real stall. Verify: normal versus stuck is decided
3. Wait a bounded time for slow-but-moving syncs, checking phase progress between waits. Note the deadline. Verify: waiting is bounded
4. For a truly stuck phase, check the source status and warehouse load for the underlying block. Note the blocker. Verify: the block is identified
5. Escalate with the connector, phase, and stall duration. Note the escalation. Verify: a human gets an actionable report

Variant phrasings

fivetran sync stuck agent wait

The agent-shaped search.

fivetran sync phase stalled

The phase-shaped phrasing.

Compatibility: Fivetran dashboard and API for sync history. Phase names are consistent across connectors.

Why it happens

Fivetran syncs are multi-phase and each phase depends on a different external system, so a stall is always a story about one of those systems: the source throttling extraction, the warehouse queuing the load, a schema change pausing everything. The sync history shows the phases, which means the agent can name the stuck phase instead of reporting a vague stuck sync. Bounded waiting respects that some stalls resolve themselves (a source recovers) while others never do (a hard throttle).

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Cancelling and retriggering a stuck sync can restart a long extraction from scratch. Prefer waiting out transient stalls.
• An agent that escalates every slow sync trains humans to ignore it. Escalate on stuck phases, tolerate slow ones.
• Syncs paused by schema changes look stuck but are waiting deliberately. Check for pending schema approvals.
• Multiple agents waiting on the same sync should coordinate, not each escalate separately.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_aRjrXvrZndPYeJQuugXESA

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_aRjrXvrZndPYeJQuugXESA

Thread query: agent timed out waiting for fivetran sync to finish, sync stuck

TL;DR: A sync that never finishes is stalled in one phase: extracting against a throttled source, loading against a busy warehouse, or retrying a failing step. The agent should read the sync history to find the phase, wait a bounded time for normal variance, then escalate with the phase named. An agent cannot fix a throttled source by waiting harder.

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

Fix this in synthetic data agent workflow by acting on the exact message first: insert exponential backoff between retries, honour the retry delay the API returns, and stop after a fixed retry budget with the last error recorded, because immediate retries against a failing or rate limited service only deepen the failure. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one table, batch or record set first, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.

agent loop detected - retrying failed request without backoff

Use this when

• The operation in synthetic data agent workflow fails with this exact message or symptom: agent loop detected - retrying failed request without backoff.
• The same failure repeats on retry with unchanged inputs.
• Generation, validation or export is blocked until this item completes.

Not for this skill when

• The message is an outage notice from the platform. Resolve that first, then return here if this error remains.
• The operation completes and you only disagree with its output quality. That is a quality review, not this failure.

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure with the smallest scope that still shows it in synthetic data agent workflow, and copy the full message plus the table, column or job involved into the run notes. Verify: the error is reproduced on demand with a named scope, not only seen in a log.
2. Apply the specific fix for this error: insert exponential backoff between retries, honour the retry delay the API returns, and stop after a fixed retry budget with the last error recorded, because immediate retries against a failing or rate limited service only deepen the failure. Verify: the smallest failing scope now completes, or the named column, table or job behaves as the fix predicts.
3. Check the neighbouring tables, columns or jobs that share the same config, schema or credential, because this class of failure rarely affects only one item. Verify: the neighbouring items are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Rerun the original operation in synthetic data agent workflow on the previously failing scope, watching for the same message rather than assuming success from a quiet log. Verify: the operation completes and the original message does not appear.
5. Compare the result counts, distributions or status against the source in synthetic data agent workflow so a silent partial success is caught before sign off. Verify: counts match the source or every difference is named and explained.
6. Record the fix, the triggering input and the verification result on the item so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the error, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

Why it happens

Immediate retry loops hammer a service that is already failing or limiting, converting a short pause into a longer block and flooding logs with identical errors.

Variant phrasings

agent loop detected - retrying failed request without backoff

The verbatim form searchers paste from the terminal or console. Treat it identically: same fix, same single scope proof, then the full rerun.

How to fix - agent loop detected: retrying failed synthetic data request without backoff error

The how-to phrasing for the same failure in synthetic data agent workflow. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the rerun.

synthetic data agent workflow troubleshooting for this failure

The symptom-first phrasing used when the console hides the full message. Surface the full message first, confirm it matches the code block above, then follow the steps.

Compatibility: synthetic data agent workflow at current versions, plus the platform API or console the query names; no extra tooling beyond the source system access needed to verify counts.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst9T7Tp8FsMZi1R4oen69vw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst9T7Tp8FsMZi1R4oen69vw

Thread query: agent loop detected: retrying failed synthetic data request without backoff error

TL;DR: Fix this in synthetic data agent workflow by acting on the exact message first: insert exponential backoff between retries, honour the retry delay the API returns, and stop after a fixed retry budget with the last error recorded, because immediate retries against a failing or rate limited service only deepen the failure. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one table, batch or record set first, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.