Agent vs Validator Errors

The Problem

Imagine Agent Status reports your agent is DOWN, but:

• Our validation node had a network outage
• Our validation service had a bug
• There was a hash mismatch downloading the validation code

You'd get a false alert, lose trust in Agent Status, and waste time investigating.

The Solution: Error Attribution

Every validation result includes a system_verdict:

System Verdict	Meaning
TARGET_EVALUATED	We successfully tested your agent. The result reflects your agent's behavior.
VALIDATOR_ERROR	Something went wrong on our side. This result doesn't count against your agent.

What Counts as Validator Error?

Issues on Agent Status's side that aren't your fault:

• Network failures from our node — DNS failed, couldn't establish connection
• Validation code errors — Bug in Agent Status's validation code
• Timeout on our side — Node was overloaded, couldn't complete validation
• Hash mismatch — Couldn't download/verify validation code
• Infrastructure issues — Database unavailable, storage failures

What Counts as Agent Error?

Issues that reflect your agent's actual behavior:

• HTTP 4xx/5xx — Your agent returned an error
• Timeout — Your agent didn't respond in time
• Invalid response — Response doesn't match expected format
• Gold prompt failure — Your agent gave wrong answers
• Connection refused — Your server rejected the connection
• TLS error — Your certificate is invalid/expired

How It Affects Verdicts

Validator errors are excluded from verdict calculation.

Example:

10 validations sent:
- 7 return TARGET_EVALUATED (6 success, 1 fail)
- 3 return VALIDATOR_ERROR (ignored)

Verdict calculated from 7 validations:
- 6/7 = 86% success → UP (above 80% threshold)

If we didn't exclude validator errors:

- 6/10 = 60% success → DEGRADED (false alarm!)

Viewing Error Attribution

In Dashboard

Failed validations show an icon indicating error type:

• 🔴 Agent error — Your agent failed
• ⚠️ Validator error — Our infrastructure issue (doesn't count)

In API Response

{
  "validations": [
    {
      "status": "failed",
      "system_verdict": "TARGET_EVALUATED",
      "error_code": "http_503",
      "error_message": "Service Unavailable"
    },
    {
      "status": "failed",
      "system_verdict": "VALIDATOR_ERROR",
      "error_code": "probe_network_error",
      "error_message": "Failed to connect to Agent Status infrastructure"
    }
  ]
}

Error Taxonomy

Agent Status normalizes error codes for easier analysis:

Agent Errors (TARGET_EVALUATED)

Error Code	Description
http_4xx	Client error (401, 403, 404, etc.)
http_5xx	Server error (500, 502, 503, etc.)
timeout	Request timed out
connect_timeout	Couldn't establish connection
read_timeout	Connection established but response timed out
dns_fail	DNS resolution failed
tls_fail	TLS/SSL handshake failed
connect_refused	Connection actively refused
schema_invalid	Response didn't match expected format
gold_miss	Gold prompt check failed
empty_response	No response body

Validator Errors (VALIDATOR_ERROR)

Error Code	Description
probe_network_error	Agent Status node network issue
probe_code_error	Error in Agent Status's validation code
hash_mismatch	Couldn't verify validation code
infrastructure_error	Agent Status infrastructure failure

What To Do

If You See Agent Errors

These are real — investigate your agent:

Check your server logs

Verify authentication is working

Test the endpoint manually

Check for rate limiting

If You See Validator Errors

These are on us — no action needed from you:

They don't affect your verdict

We're automatically alerted

They're usually transient

If you see persistent validator errors, contact support — there may be a configuration issue.