Use when writing or touching any error path, catch block, fallback, default value, retry, or degraded mode - in any language, any repo. Encodes the no-silent-swallows contract and the fail-loud discipline. Use whenever an exception is about to be caught, a null is about to get a default, or a failure could pass unnoticed, even if the goal is "just make it not crash".
Install
npx skills add riekelt/principal-engineer --skill handling-failuresnpx skills add riekelt/principal-engineer --skill handling-failures -a claude-code -gnpx skills add riekelt/principal-engineer --skill handling-failures -a codex -ggemini skills install https://github.com/riekelt/principal-engineer.git --path plugins/principal-engineer/skills/handling-failuresgh skill install riekelt/principal-engineer handling-failuresgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/riekelt/principal-engineer /tmp/riekelt__principal-engineer
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills ~/.agents/skills
cp -R /tmp/riekelt__principal-engineer/plugins/principal-engineer/skills/handling-failures ~/.claude/skills/handling-failures # Claude Code
cp -R /tmp/riekelt__principal-engineer/plugins/principal-engineer/skills/handling-failures ~/.agents/skills/handling-failures # Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot, OpenCode