# Retry Makes the Problem Worse

## Ontology Metadata

Code: ISS-0007
Version: ISS-0007@0.1.0
Ontology release: 0.1.0
Updated: 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
Canonical URL: /workbench/issues/retry-makes-the-problem-worse/

## Summary

A retry, repair attempt, regeneration, or follow-up instruction increases the error, expands the failure, or creates additional breakage instead of narrowing the problem.

## Category

- CAT-0110 — Spread & Escalation
  - URL: /workbench/categories/spread-and-escalation/
  - Summary: Problems where small errors, local exceptions, risk signals, retries, permissions, or outputs spread downstream, grow in consequence, or trigger broader actions.

## Primary Pattern

- PAT-0300 — Escalation Growth
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/escalation-growth/
  - Summary: A structural condition where impact, authority, scope, or consequence increases across sequential states without a declared limiting mechanism.

## Declared Patterns

- PAT-0300 — Escalation Growth
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/escalation-growth/
  - Summary: A structural condition where impact, authority, scope, or consequence increases across sequential states without a declared limiting mechanism.
- PAT-0360 — Propagation Amplification
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/propagation-amplification/
  - Summary: A structural condition where an effect, declaration, authority, constraint, or state increases in scope or intensity as it propagates beyond declared bounds.
- PAT-0380 — Silent Mutation
  - URL: /workbench/patterns/silent-mutation/
  - Summary: A structural condition where a change occurs without a corresponding declared update, authority update, or version change.

## Derived Primary Lenses

- LEN-0180 — Determinism Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/determinism-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether identical structural inputs produce equivalent structural outputs across repeated executions.
- LEN-0190 — Escalation Gradient Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/escalation-gradient-lens/
  - Summary: Measures structural growth or intensification across sequential executions, states, or transitions.
- LEN-0250 — Propagation Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/propagation-lens/
  - Summary: Traces how structural declarations, effects, or state changes propagate across boundaries or stages.
- LEN-0280 — Reference Stability Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/reference-stability-lens/
  - Summary: Evaluates whether structural references, identifiers, nodes, and edges remain consistent across execution cycles or comparable states.
- LEN-0290 — Variance / Entropy Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/variance-entropy-lens/
  - Summary: Measures structural variability across repeated or comparable evaluations and identifies divergence beyond expected bounds.

## Derived Secondary Lenses

- LEN-0260 — Provenance Trace Lens
  - URL: /workbench/lenses/provenance-trace-lens/
  - Summary: Attaches stable lineage to structural regions by mapping origin, reference history, and transformation path.

## Search Intents

- retry makes the problem worse
- AI gets worse after retry
- regeneration created more errors
- fix attempt broke more things
- retry expanded the problem
- AI repair made new mistakes