agent loop detected alternating between two providers each overwriting the others phone data

TL;DR

Fix this in Enrichment agent by acting on the exact message first: assign one authoritative provider per field, lock a phone value once it is verified, and log provider disagreements for review instead of letting the last writer win repeatedly. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one record, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.

Agent loop detected, alternating between two providers each overwriting the other provider phone data

Use this when

• The operation in Enrichment agent fails with this exact message: Agent loop detected, alternating between two providers each overwriting the other provider phone data.
• The same failure repeats on retry with unchanged inputs.
• A run, import, export or alert is blocked until this item completes.

Not for this skill when

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

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure with the smallest scope that still shows it in Enrichment agent, and copy the full message plus the record, account or list involved into the run notes. Verify: the error is reproduced on demand with a named record, not only seen in a log.
2. Apply the specific fix for this error: assign one authoritative provider per field, lock a phone value once it is verified, and log provider disagreements for review instead of letting the last writer win repeatedly. Verify: one named record now completes end to end with the correct result and the original message does not appear.
3. Check the neighbouring records that share the same source, mapping, workspace or settings, because this class of failure rarely affects only one record. Verify: the neighbouring records are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Compare the result counts, fields or alerts against the source in Enrichment agent so a silent partial success is caught before sign off. Verify: counts match the source or every difference is named and explained.
5. Rerun the original operation in Enrichment agent 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.
6. Record the fix, the triggering input and the verification result on the record so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the error, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

Why it happens

Each provider run treated the other provider value as stale and replaced it, so the record oscillated forever and no value ever settled as the answer.

Variant phrasings

Agent loop detected, alternating between two providers each overwriting the other provider phone data

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

How to fix this failure in Enrichment agent

The how to phrasing for the same failure. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the rerun.

Troubleshooting this failure in Enrichment agent

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: Enrichment agent 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/pst_MPM4iaEtKKOwVbHwIQrFVQ