agent loop detected regenerating approved answers and overwriting SME edits

TL;DR

Fix this in the questionnaire agent run by acting on the exact message first: lock approved answers against agent edits by recording an approved hash per answer, skip any answer whose current text still matches its approved hash, and report SME edits the agent must not overwrite. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one item, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.

agent loop detected regenerating approved answers and overwriting SME edits

Use this when

• The operation in the questionnaire agent run fails with this exact message: agent loop detected regenerating approved answers and overwriting SME edits.
• The same failure repeats on retry with unchanged inputs.
• A review, export or check is blocked until this item completes.

Not for this skill when

• The message is a permission or 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. That is a quality review, not this failure.

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure with the smallest scope that still shows it in the questionnaire agent run, and copy the full message plus the questionnaire, answer or evidence item involved into the run notes. Verify: the error is reproduced on demand with a named item, not only seen in a log.
2. Apply the specific fix for this error: lock approved answers against agent edits by recording an approved hash per answer, skip any answer whose current text still matches its approved hash, and report SME edits the agent must not overwrite. Verify: approved answers keep their SME text after the run and the log lists them as locked and skipped.
3. Check the neighbouring items that share the same config, template, feed 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. Compare the result counts, decisions or alerts against the source in the questionnaire agent run 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 the questionnaire agent run 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 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

the agent regenerated answers from the library without checking for later human edits, so each run overwrote SME work with the older library text.

Variant phrasings

agent loop detected regenerating approved answers and overwriting SME edits

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

How to fix: agent loop detected regenerating approved answers and overwriting SME edits

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

the questionnaire agent run 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: the questionnaire agent run at current versions, plus the platform API or console the query names; no extra tooling beyond a text editor and the source system access needed to verify counts.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_bWNm0F5i7lJjOwlgpL-ApQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_bWNm0F5i7lJjOwlgpL-ApQ

Thread query: agent loop detected regenerating approved answers and overwriting SME edits

TL;DR: Fix this in the questionnaire agent run by acting on the exact message first: lock approved answers against agent edits by recording an approved hash per answer, skip any answer whose current text still matches its approved hash, and report SME edits the agent must not overwrite. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one item, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.