## TL;DR
Deduplicate the insert batch on its primary keys and skip or update keys already present before retrying, with a stop after one failed attempt until the batch changes, because the agent retries the identical batch whose duplicate primary keys caused the first rejection, so every retry fails identically. Start with the Hopsworks insert batch and the primary keys already in the feature group, 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.

```text
agent loop detected: agent retries failed Hopsworks insert with same duplicate primary keys error
```

## Use this when
- You see this exact message or symptom: agent loop detected: agent retries failed Hopsworks insert with same duplicate primary keys 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 Hopsworks insert batch and the primary keys already in the feature group, 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 duplicate keys inside the batch itself, keys already stored, and the agent retry count for the unchanged batch. 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: Deduplicate the insert batch on its primary keys and skip or update keys already present before retrying, with a stop after one failed attempt until the batch changes, because the agent retries the identical batch whose duplicate primary keys caused the first rejection, so every retry fails identically. 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 loop detected: agent retries failed Hopsworks insert with same duplicate primary keys 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: Hopsworks feature group inserts, agent retry loops on data errors.

## Why it happens
Insert semantics reject duplicates rather than upserting them. A retry loop around a deterministic data error cannot succeed; only changing the batch changes the outcome.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_fGybh-T_ZNkBO_wQJDZEjQ