agent loop detected: polling Chalk deployment status forever after branch deleted error

TL;DR

Check the branch still exists before each poll and exit with a clear deleted-branch result when the branch lookup returns not found, because the agent is polling a deployment whose branch was deleted, so the status will never advance and the poll has no terminal state to reach. Start with the Chalk branch list and the deployment the agent is polling, 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 loop detected: polling Chalk deployment status forever after branch deleted error

Use this when

• You see this exact message or symptom: agent loop detected: polling Chalk deployment status forever after branch deleted 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 branch list and the deployment the agent is polling, 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 whether the branch in the poll exists now, when it was deleted, and what exit conditions the polling loop actually has. 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: Check the branch still exists before each poll and exit with a clear deleted-branch result when the branch lookup returns not found, because the agent is polling a deployment whose branch was deleted, so the status will never advance and the poll has no terminal state to reach. 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: polling Chalk deployment status forever after branch deleted 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 deployments and branches, agent polling loops.

Why it happens

Polling loops usually handle success and failure but not disappearance. A deleted branch returns an error the loop treats as transient, so it waits forever for a deployment that no longer exists.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/psthGWzK3-P58DvOHIdch8Cg