timeout-prevention

What this skill does

# Timeout Prevention Skill

Expert strategies for preventing request timeouts in Claude Code by breaking down long operations into manageable chunks with progress tracking and recovery mechanisms.

## When to Use This Skill

Use when:
- Performing bulk operations (100+ files, repos, etc.)
- Running long commands (>60 seconds)
- Processing large datasets
- Downloading multiple files sequentially
- Executing complex multi-step workflows
- Working with slow external APIs
- Any operation that risks timing out

## Understanding Timeout Limits

### Claude Code Timeout Behavior
- **Default Tool Timeout**: 120 seconds (2 minutes)
- **Request Timeout**: Entire response cycle
- **What Causes Timeouts**:
  - Long-running bash commands
  - Large file operations
  - Sequential processing of many items
  - Network operations without proper timeout settings
  - Blocking operations without progress

## Core Prevention Strategies

### 1. Task Chunking

Break large operations into smaller batches:

```bash
# ❌ BAD: Process all 1000 files at once
for file in $(find . -name "*.txt"); do
    process_file "$file"
done

# ✅ GOOD: Process in batches of 10
find . -name "*.txt" | head -10 | while read file; do
    process_file "$file"
done
# Then process next 10, etc.
```

### 2. Progress Checkpoints

Save progress to resume if interrupted:

```bash
# Create checkpoint file
CHECKPOINT_FILE="progress.txt"

# Save completed items
echo "completed_item_1" >> "$CHECKPOINT_FILE"

# Skip already completed items
if grep -q "completed_item_1" "$CHECKPOINT_FILE"; then
    echo "Skipping already processed item"
fi
```

### 3. Background Processes

Run long operations in background:

```bash
# Start long-running process in background
long_command > output.log 2>&1 &
echo $! > pid.txt

# Check status later
if ps -p $(cat pid.txt) > /dev/null; then
    echo "Still running"
else
    echo "Completed"
    cat output.log
fi
```

### 4. Incremental Processing

Process and report incrementally:

```bash
# Process items one at a time with status updates
TOTAL=100
for i in $(seq 1 10); do  # First 10 of 100
    process_item $i
    echo "Progress: $i/$TOTAL"
done
# Continue with next 10 in subsequent calls
```

### 5. Timeout Configuration

Set explicit timeouts for commands:

```bash
# Use timeout command
timeout 60s long_command || echo "Command timed out"

# Set timeout in tool calls
yt-dlp --socket-timeout 30 "URL"
git clone --depth 1 --timeout 60 "URL"
```

## Practical Patterns

### Pattern 1: Batch File Processing

```bash
# Define batch size
BATCH_SIZE=10
OFFSET=${1:-0}  # Accept offset as parameter

# Process batch
find . -name "*.jpg" | tail -n +$((OFFSET + 1)) | head -$BATCH_SIZE | while read file; do
    convert "$file" -resize 800x600 "thumbnails/$(basename $file)"
    echo "Processed: $file"
done

# Report next offset
NEXT_OFFSET=$((OFFSET + BATCH_SIZE))
echo "Next batch: Run with offset $NEXT_OFFSET"
```

**Usage**:
```bash
# First batch
./process.sh 0

# Next batch
./process.sh 10

# Continue...
./process.sh 20
```

### Pattern 2: Repository Cloning with Checkpoints

```bash
#!/bin/bash
REPOS_FILE="repos.txt"
CHECKPOINT="downloaded.txt"

# Read repos, skip already downloaded
while read repo; do
    # Check if already downloaded
    if grep -q "$repo" "$CHECKPOINT" 2>/dev/null; then
        echo "✓ Skipping $repo (already downloaded)"
        continue
    fi

    # Clone with timeout
    echo "Downloading $repo..."
    if timeout 60s git clone --depth 1 "$repo" 2>/dev/null; then
        echo "$repo" >> "$CHECKPOINT"
        echo "✓ Downloaded $repo"
    else
        echo "✗ Failed: $repo"
    fi
done < <(head -5 "$REPOS_FILE")  # Only 5 at a time

echo "Processed 5 repos. Check $CHECKPOINT for status."
```

### Pattern 3: Progress-Tracked Downloads

```bash
#!/bin/bash
URLS_FILE="urls.txt"
PROGRESS_FILE="download_progress.json"

# Initialize progress
[ ! -f "$PROGRESS_FILE" ] && echo '{"completed": 0, "total": 0}' > "$PROGRESS_FILE"

# Get current progress
COMPLETED=$(jq -r '.completed' "$PROGRESS_FILE")
TOTAL=$(wc -l < "$URLS_FILE")

# Download next batch (5 at a time)
BATCH_SIZE=5
tail -n +$((COMPLETED + 1)) "$URLS_FILE" | head -$BATCH_SIZE | while read url; do
    echo "Downloading: $url"
    if yt-dlp --socket-timeout 30 "$url"; then
        COMPLETED=$((COMPLETED + 1))
        echo "{\"completed\": $COMPLETED, \"total\": $TOTAL}" > "$PROGRESS_FILE"
    fi
done

# Report progress
COMPLETED=$(jq -r '.completed' "$PROGRESS_FILE")
echo "Progress: $COMPLETED/$TOTAL"
[ $COMPLETED -lt $TOTAL ] && echo "Run again to continue."
```

### Pattern 4: Parallel Execution with Rate Limiting

```bash
#!/bin/bash
MAX_PARALLEL=3
COUNT=0

for item in $(seq 1 15); do
    # Start background job
    (
        process_item $item
        echo "Completed: $item"
    ) &

    COUNT=$((COUNT + 1))

    # Wait when reaching max parallel
    if [ $COUNT -ge $MAX_PARALLEL ]; then
        wait -n  # Wait for any job to finish
        COUNT=$((COUNT - 1))
    fi

    # Rate limiting
    sleep 0.5
done

# Wait for remaining jobs
wait
echo "All items processed"
```

### Pattern 5: Resumable State Machine

```bash
#!/bin/bash
STATE_FILE="workflow_state.txt"

# Read current state (default: START)
STATE=$(cat "$STATE_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo "START")

case $STATE in
    START)
        echo "Phase 1: Initialization"
        initialize_project
        echo "PHASE1" > "$STATE_FILE"
        echo "Run again to continue to Phase 2"
        ;;
    PHASE1)
        echo "Phase 2: Processing (Batch 1 of 3)"
        process_batch_1
        echo "PHASE2" > "$STATE_FILE"
        echo "Run again for Phase 3"
        ;;
    PHASE2)
        echo "Phase 3: Processing (Batch 2 of 3)"
        process_batch_2
        echo "PHASE3" > "$STATE_FILE"
        echo "Run again for Phase 4"
        ;;
    PHASE3)
        echo "Phase 4: Processing (Batch 3 of 3)"
        process_batch_3
        echo "PHASE4" > "$STATE_FILE"
        echo "Run again for finalization"
        ;;
    PHASE4)
        echo "Phase 5: Finalization"
        finalize_project
        echo "COMPLETE" > "$STATE_FILE"
        echo "Workflow complete!"
        ;;
    COMPLETE)
        echo "Workflow already completed"
        ;;
esac
```

## Command Optimization

### Optimize Bash Commands

```bash
# ❌ SLOW: Multiple commands sequentially
git clone repo1
git clone repo2
git clone repo3

# ✅ FAST: Parallel with wait
git clone repo1 &
git clone repo2 &
git clone repo3 &
wait
```

### Optimize File Operations

```bash
# ❌ SLOW: Process one file at a time
for file in *.txt; do
    cat "$file" | process > "output/$file"
done

# ✅ FAST: Parallel processing
for file in *.txt; do
    cat "$file" | process > "output/$file" &
done
wait
```

### Optimize Network Calls

```bash
# ❌ SLOW: Sequential API calls
for id in {1..100}; do
    curl "https://api.example.com/item/$id"
done

# ✅ FAST: Batch API call
curl "https://api.example.com/items?ids=1,2,3,4,5"
```

## Claude Code Integration

### Strategy 1: Multi-Turn Workflow

Instead of one long operation, break into multiple turns:

**Turn 1**:
```
Process first 10 repositories and report progress
```

**Turn 2**:
```
Process next 10 repositories (11-20)
```

**Turn 3**:
```
Process final batch and generate report
```

### Strategy 2: Status Check Pattern

```bash
# Turn 1: Start background process
./long_operation.sh > output.log 2>&1 &
echo $! > pid.txt
echo "Started background process"

# Turn 2: Check status
if ps -p $(cat pid.txt) > /dev/null; then
    echo "Still running... Check again"
    tail -20 output.log
else
    echo "Completed!"
    cat output.log
fi
```

### Strategy 3: Incremental Results

Report partial results as you go:

```bash
echo "=== Batch 1 Results ==="
process_batch_1
echo ""
echo "=== Batch 2 Results ==="
process_batch_2
```

## Error Handling

### Graceful Degradation

```bash
# Try operation with timeout, fallback if fails
if timeout 30s expensive_operation; then
    echo "Operation completed"
else
    ech