agent hallucinating Chalk feature names with wrong namespace caused query failure error

TL;DR

Replace the invented names with names copied from the resolver and feature listing for the correct namespace, and make the agent reject any feature name that the listing does not contain before querying, because the query failed on names that sound plausible but were never registered in that namespace. Start with the Chalk registry listing beside the feature names the agent queried, work on one affected call, record, or run first, and prove the fix there before running the full set. Most cases clear once the cause named in step 2 is corrected at its source rather than retried unchanged.

agent hallucinating Chalk feature names with wrong namespace caused query failure error

Use this when

• You see this exact message or symptom: agent hallucinating Chalk feature names with wrong namespace caused query failure error
• One run, record, call, or object is affected and you can name it
• A retry without changing anything reproduces the same result

Not for this skill when

• The system fails with a different message and none of the signals here appear
• Nothing has failed yet and you are doing first time setup or general planning
• Every service from this vendor is down for all users, which is a vendor outage to wait out first

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure once using the Chalk registry listing beside the feature names the agent queried, and record the time, the workspace or account, and the one item it names. Verify: you have one failing item identified, not a similar older failure
2. Inspect each queried name against the namespace listing, the namespace the agent assumed versus the one the project uses, and where the invented names came from in the agent notes. Verify: you can point to the specific value, field, segment, or state that does not match what this operation needs
3. Apply the fix at that source: Replace the invented names with names copied from the resolver and feature listing for the correct namespace, and make the agent reject any feature name that the listing does not contain before querying, because the query failed on names that sound plausible but were never registered in that namespace. Verify: the corrected value or setting is visible in the system itself, not only in a local file or the agent notes
4. Re-run the original operation on the single affected item first. Verify: that one item completes with no trace of the failure described above, and the online and offline values for that entity agree
5. Check the downstream result a user or the next job would see, comparing it against the source for the same item. Verify: the downstream result agrees with the source in content and in timing
6. Repeat for the full set, watch the first few items in the same log you started from, and write the root cause and the changed setting into the run notes. Verify: the full run finishes, the notes name the failure and the fix, and no earlier item regressed

Variant phrasings

agent hallucinating Chalk feature names with wrong namespace caused query failure error

The subject-first phrasing of the same failure. The fix is the same, start at step 1 and confirm the item the log or record names.

Tool-first phrasing of this failure

The phrasing searchers use once they know which system raised it. It is the same underlying problem, not a separate bug.

Why does this keep happening after a retry

The repeat-occurrence phrasing. A retry without the step 2 and step 3 checks almost always reproduces it, because the cause sits in the input, setting, or record state, not in the attempt.

Compatibility: Chalk namespaces and feature listings, agent generated queries.

Why it happens

Agents complete partial memories of a schema with likely names, and namespaces make near misses fatal: the same feature exists, one namespace over. Grounding the name in a live listing is the only reliable check.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_gvI31zgQCZf6mQZC3Q4f3g