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What to do when a tool fails, an API hits a rate limit, or a site blocks scraping. Maps every primary tool to its best fallback so a single failure doesn't block the search.
Passed 18 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 7 of 22 without it.
and 15 more in the full report
13 fixed6 passed either way3 still failing1 broke
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
One of 13 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
An automated scraper trying to pull Airbnb lodging listings gets blocked by anti-bot defenses. Which secondary tool should be used to scrape airbnb.com programmatically?
| Checked | Without skill | With skill |
|---|---|---|
| Advises the user to check airbnb.com directly rather than attempting improvised ad-hoc browser scraping | Missed | Passed |
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
Tools go down. APIs break. Have a backup plan for every search.
| Primary Tool | When It Fails | Fallback |
|---|---|---|
| Duffel | API error or timeout | Ignav, Google Flights skill, Skiplagged |
| Ignav | API error | Duffel, Google Flights skill, Skiplagged |
| Google Flights | agent-browser error | Duffel, Ignav, Skiplagged |
| Skiplagged | 502/timeout (Cloudflare issues) | Kiwi.com MCP, Duffel, Ignav |
| Kiwi.com | Server error | Skiplagged MCP, Duffel |
| Seats.aero | API error or stale data | Check airline website directly, use Duffel for GDS inventory |
| Southwest | SW rate limiting or bot detection | Wait a few minutes and retry. Use Docker (ghcr.io/borski/sw-fares) if running locally fails. Google Flights skill for SW cash prices as a fast fallback. |
| SerpAPI | Rate limit (100/mo free) | Trivago for hotels, web search for destination discovery |
| Trivago | Server error | LiteAPI for hotels, SerpAPI Google Hotels |
| LiteAPI | Auth error (401) | Trivago MCP, SerpAPI Google Hotels |
| Airbnb | Scraping blocked | Suggest user check airbnb.com directly |
| AwardWallet | API error | Ask user for their balances directly |
| Ferryhopper | Server error | SerpAPI or web search for ferry routes |
| Atlas Obscura | Script error | Web search for "unusual things to do in [destination]" |
| Chase Travel | Login failure or CSRF issues | Use Duffel/Ignav for cash prices. Note that Points Boost and Edit detection are Chase-only. |
| Amex Travel | Login failure or form changes | Use Duffel/Ignav for cash prices. Note that IAP fares and FHR/THC detection are Amex-only. |
| Deutsche Bahn (db-vendo) | Library error or bahn.de outage | SerpAPI Google Travel Explore, web search for "DB train [origin] [dest]", or fall back to confirming flight options instead. |
| Wikipedia airports | API rate limit (rare) or page missing | Web search "[airport name] airlines destinations" returns the same data via Google. |
| Fare tool says "no results" | Could be no availability OR no service | Use wikipedia-airports to confirm whether the route is flown at all. If Wikipedia lists the destination as served, fare tools have no availability on that date. If Wikipedia doesn't list it, the route doesn't exist. Saves you from asking the user to retry searches that can never succeed. |
Do not declare an MCP server "not available" from a glance at your tool list — attempt an actual tool call first. The Skiplagged and Kiwi servers need no API keys and are wired into every supported harness config; a session launched from the repo directory has them. If a call genuinely fails, quote the error to the user and then fall back.
And when falling back, never silently substitute ad-hoc browser scraping for the toolkit's sources. Improvised scraping (e.g., driving a browser to Google Flights by hand) produces prices that miss most of the market. If you're ever reduced to it, say so explicitly and label every price from it as low-confidence: "MCP sources were unreachable, so this is a single scraped quote — treat it as a ceiling, not a market price."
test cases passed, vs 7 / 22 without
More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.