Users Retry Agent Looks Question Explained
This worked AI Engineer Interview practice question tests Reliability and Safety. Try the answer first, then review why A is the best choice.
Short answer
The correct answer is A. A client-visible idempotency key on the intent, operation state persisted before execution, and replays that return status instead of re-running the tool..
Retries also come from timeouts, workers, and dropped responses — the interface must stay recoverable, so the operation itself has to be safe to replay. The key is to match the exact action in the prompt to the tool, command, or concept that performs that action directly. Here, A. A client-visible idempotency key on the intent, operation state persisted before execution, and replays that return status instead of re-running the tool. is the only option that satisfies the scenario without adding unrelated behavior.
The Question
Users retry when an agent looks stuck, and duplicate requests sometimes create two refunds. A teammate proposes disabling the retry button. What do you build instead?
Why A is correct
Retries also come from timeouts, workers, and dropped responses — the interface must stay recoverable, so the operation itself has to be safe to replay. The key is to match the exact action in the prompt to the tool, command, or concept that performs that action directly. Here, A. A client-visible idempotency key on the intent, operation state persisted before execution, and replays that return status instead of re-running the tool. is the only option that satisfies the scenario without adding unrelated behavior.
Why the other options are wrong
Option B does not match the requirement in the prompt. The correct answer is A because Retries also come from timeouts, workers, and dropped responses — the interface must stay recoverable, so the operation itself has to be safe to replay.
Option C does not match the requirement in the prompt. The correct answer is A because Retries also come from timeouts, workers, and dropped responses — the interface must stay recoverable, so the operation itself has to be safe to replay.
Option D does not match the requirement in the prompt. The correct answer is A because Retries also come from timeouts, workers, and dropped responses — the interface must stay recoverable, so the operation itself has to be safe to replay.
Key idea: Reliability and Safety
Every question is a production situation an AI engineer interviewer can put to you: a failing endpoint, a cost spike, an agent that loops, an eval that disagrees with users. The best answer is almost always the one that measures or contains the problem before it changes the model or the prompt. If you miss a question, note which habit it tests: decompose before you fix, put the security boundary where the side effect happens, and trust an eval only after you check what it covers. The 12 open-ended questions with answer guides are at aijobprep.app/questions/ai-engineer.html.
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