VFX-E-1301¶

Title¶

ScaffoldFailed

Explanation¶

The scaffold call produced no suite. scaffold_suite compiles a structured intent into a YAML artefact via vouchfx scaffold --intent, and this code covers every way that compilation can end without producing one — four distinct producers: (1) the CLI exited non-zero because the engine rejected the intent (an unknown step type or dependency kind); (2) the CLI exceeded its wall-clock budget (15 seconds by default) and was terminated; (3) the CLI overran its output cap and was terminated before its output could be captured; (4) the CLI exited 0 but produced empty stdout. The dominant cause is producer 1 — an intent the engine deterministically rejects, which an identical retry cannot fix — which is why this code is always retryable: false even though producers 2 and 3 would be transient in isolation.

Common causes¶

• An unknown step type or dependency kind named in the steps/dependencies arguments — the engine rejects the intent outright (the dominant cause).
• The vouchfx scaffold --intent subprocess taking longer than its wall-clock budget to respond.
• An intent document large enough that the CLI's stdout capture exceeded its output cap before finishing.
• The CLI exiting successfully but writing nothing to stdout.

Fixes¶

• Read the error message for which of the four producers fired — it names the specific cause.
• For a rejected intent, verify every step type and dependency type against list_step_types before calling scaffold_suite.
• For a timeout or output-cap overrun, retry with a smaller/narrower steps set — a genuinely different call that is more likely to succeed, not a blind retry.
• If the CLI itself is the problem (missing, mismatched, not launchable), that surfaces as VFX-E-1401 instead — check which code you actually received.