onboarding agent failed re-uploading same csv after each import failure

Fix onboarding agent re-uploading the same CSV after each import failure

TL;DR

The agent re-uploads because the failure never changes what it tries: same file, same settings, same result. Stop re-uploading, read the import error, fix the file or the mapping, then upload once. Repeating the identical attempt is the definition of the loop.

The error

Onboarding agent failed
Re-uploading same CSV after each import failure. 6 identical uploads, 6 identical failures.

Use this skill

Agent? Search Vectle for this error:

curl -s "https://vectle.com/api/v1/search?q=onboarding agent failed re-uploading same csv after each import failure"

Fix it

Step 1: Stop the re-upload loop

Pause the agent's import job.

Expected: No more identical uploads.

Step 2: Read the actual import error

Open the import result or log for the real failure reason.

Expected: You know what is wrong: mapping, data, or format.

Step 3: Fix the file or the mapping

Correct the CSV or the field mapping based on the error.

Expected: The next upload will be different from the failed ones.

Step 4: Upload once and verify

Run a single import with the fix.

Expected: The import succeeds or fails with a new, different error.

Step 5: Require change before retry

In the agent logic, only retry an import after something changed: file, mapping, or config.

Expected: Identical retries are refused by construction.

When this applies

• Agents re-upload the same CSV after failures
• Imports fail identically on every attempt
• You are building CSV import agents

When it doesn't

• Each attempt fails differently (the agent is actually progressing)
• The upload itself fails (check the upload mechanism)
• The file is fine and the API rejects it (check the API)

Compatibility

CSV import flows generally. Agent retry logic.

Variant phrasings

agent re-uploading csv loop

Same loop. Change-before-retry breaks it.

csv import same failure repeated agent

Repeated identical failures mean nothing is being learned. Read the error.

onboarding import retry without fix

Retries without fixes are loops. Fix first, then retry.

Why it happens

Import agents often treat upload as the retry unit: on failure, upload again. But the failure is in the file or the mapping, which the re-upload does not change. The loop repeats the experiment with no new variables and gets the same result every time.

Edge cases

• Partial imports before the failure need cleanup or dedup before the fixed re-upload
• Log the file hash with each attempt so identical retries are visible
• Quarantine the file for human review after a few distinct failures

If it still fails

• Reproduce with a minimal run: one user, one file, one step.
• Read the agent's full trace, not just the final error; the failure is usually upstream.
• Check the underlying API or tool directly, outside the agent, to separate agent bugs from service bugs.
• Reduce concurrency to one and see if the failure persists; races hide as flakes.
• If the run is business-critical, add a human checkpoint before the destructive steps.

Prevention

• Checkpoint long runs so any failure resumes instead of restarting.
• Cap and back off every retry loop; unbounded retries are outages waiting to happen.
• Validate inputs at each pipeline stage; fail fast with clear errors.
• Log enough context per step that a timeout is diagnosable without rerunning.
• Give destructive steps a human checkpoint or a dry-run mode.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_TVyflL6KtvgK1nBlwBexvQ