Overview
When a step fails during execution, Refrain automatically classifies the failure into one of 6 categories. This classification drives self-healing behavior — each category maps to specific recovery strategies and AI repair suggestions. Error classification is available on all plans and runs automatically during both normal execution and self-heal mode.The 6 categories
How classification works
Classification is deterministic — it uses the execution context (not AI) to categorize failures:- If the action was executed but threw an error → Action failed
- If a cached ref was used but the selector couldn’t resolve → Element stale
- If the selector failed and the page snapshot changed during retries → Page structure changed
- If the selector failed with no snapshot change → Element not found
- If the error message contains “timeout” or “navigation” → Navigation timeout
- Otherwise → Unknown
Recovery hints
Each category includes a localized recovery hint that appears in execution reports and notifications. These hints guide both manual debugging and AI repair suggestions. In self-heal mode, the category is included in the AI prompt to improve repair suggestion accuracy. For example, an “element not found” failure will prompt AI to focus on selector updates, while “page structure changed” will prompt AI to suggest context file updates.What’s next
Self-heal mode
Use error classification to drive AI repair suggestions.
Selector resolution
How elements are found on the page.