Recovering from errors
A Watch Skill command failed, video download broke, ffmpeg or yt-dlp is missing, a provider returned an error, local vision stopped, or the user asks "why can't it watch this" or "repair my setup". Use this to diagnose and apply the engine's structured fix before retrying the original operation.From its SKILL.md
npx -y skills add oxbshw/watch-skill --skill recovering-from-errorsAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
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The file declares its own license as MIT. That is the author’s claim about this one file, and it is not the same thing as the license GitHub reports for the repository, which is listed with the other numbers below.
SKILL.md
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Recovering from errors
Failures use stable error codes and include an actionable fix. Preserve that evidence;
do not replace it with a generic explanation.
Diagnose first
watch-skill doctor --json
Read the failing checks and apply only their stated fixes. doctor can repair managed
ffmpeg and yt-dlp binaries, stale locks, corrupt caches, missing frame directories, and
known local-model health failures. Re-run it once after remediation.
Retry the original operation once
After doctor is green, repeat the command that failed. If it returns another structured error, report its code, message, and fix. Do not loop indefinitely, silently switch cloud providers, enable cloud STT, or reprocess an already indexed video.
Common routes:
- acquisition or extractor failure:
watch-skill doctor --json, then retry the watch; - provider authentication: verify the matching
WATCHSKILL_*_API_KEYlocally; - provider model not found: run
watch-skill setup-visionwith a valid vision model; - low memory or local server failure: reduce the local model/context or select a cloud provider the user already has;
- unknown video ID:
watch-skill list, then use the listed ID or original source.
Security and cost policy are invariants during recovery. Never upload the video file, enable a paid provider, or raise the cost ceiling merely to make an error disappear.