deadends.dev

Stop AI agents from repeating known failures - in code AND in the real world.

AI assistants reliably fumble two kinds of problems: known-failed code fixes, and country-specific real-world rules they've never been exposed to in training. deadends.dev now covers both:

• Code errors (2,089 entries, 51 domains): what NOT to try when an agent hits ModuleNotFoundError, CUDA OOM, CrashLoopBackOff, etc.
• Country-scoped dead ends (250+ entries across 52 countries): visa rules (ETA/eVisitor, NZeTA, e-visas, arrival cards), banking requirements, legal red lines (lèse-majesté, §86a, Article 301), cultural taboos (chopsticks in rice, clock gifts in China, red-ink names in Korea), food safety (tap-water safety by country), emergency numbers, driving norms (left-hand traffic), housing contracts - all the friction where a plausible-sounding global answer is wrong locally.

Why the expansion? Coding dead ends are largely solved by a good LLM. Country-specific friction - Japanese hanko requirements, Schengen 90/180 math, Ramadan business hours, Saudi alcohol ban, Indian beef taboos - is where generic AI advice breaks hardest. The codebase and schema are identical; the env segment just carries a country code.

90% Precision@1 · 0.935 MRR · Data Quality Dashboard

Website: deadends.dev · MCP Server: Smithery · PyPI: deadends-dev · API: /api/v1/index.json Repository: https://github.com/dbwls99706/deadends.dev

Why Use This?

Without deadends.dev	With deadends.dev
Agent tries sudo pip install → breaks system Python → wastes 3 retries	Agent sees "dead end: sudo pip - fails 70%" → skips it immediately
Agent tells user to tip 15% at a Tokyo restaurant	Agent knows tipping is refused in Japan (culture/tipping-refused/jp)
Agent drafts a Thai social post referencing King Rama X	Agent stops: Article 112 lèse-majesté risk (legal/lese-majeste-article-112/th)
Agent fixes error A, gets confused by error B	Agent knows "A leads to B 78% of the time" → handles both
Agent tells unmarried couple to kiss publicly in Dubai	Agent flags UAE public decency law (legal/unmarried-public-affection/ae)

What makes this different from asking an LLM?

• Deterministic: Same query → same answer, every time. No hallucination.
• Country-scoped: ID format {domain}/{slug}/{env} - env holds the country code (kr, jp, us, de...) so the same taboo can be answered differently for different jurisdictions.
• Primary-sourced: Every country canon cites government sites, embassies, or verifiable reporting. No "based on general knowledge" answers.
• Community-validated: Fix success rates updated from real outcome reports.
• Sub-millisecond: Local regex matching, no API roundtrip.

현실적인 한계 (운영 관점)

• 모든 에러를 다 커버하지는 못합니다. 없는 케이스는 이슈/PR/report_outcome로 빠르게 보완합니다.
• 설명의 깊이보다 실전 해결 우선(dead end/workaround 중심)으로 설계되어 있습니다.
• 신뢰성은 도메인/케이스마다 다를 수 있으므로, 고위험 변경은 공식 문서/벤더 가이드와 교차 검증을 권장합니다.

Quick Start (30 seconds)

pip install deadends-dev
deadends "CUDA error: out of memory"

MCP Server (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

Add to ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "deadend": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp.server"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/deadends.dev"
    }
  }
}

Or install via Smithery (no local setup):

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install deadend/deadends-dev --client claude

MCP Unauthorized 빠른 해결 가이드 (사람용)

deadend: calling "initialize": sending "initialize": Unauthorized 에러가 보이면 아래를 순서대로 그대로 실행/확인하세요.

1. 로컬 서버 모드인지, 원격(Smithery) 모드인지 하나만 사용

# 로컬 서버 확인 (정상 시 툴 목록이 출력됨)
python -m mcp.server --help

2. Claude Desktop 설정 파일 점검 (cwd는 실제 경로여야 함)

cat ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json

3. 로컬 서버 직접 실행 테스트

cd /path/to/deadends.dev
python -m mcp.server

4. Smithery 모드라면 재설치(토큰/설정 꼬임 복구)

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest uninstall deadend/deadends-dev --client claude
npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install deadend/deadends-dev --client claude

5. 마지막으로 Claude Desktop 완전 재시작

# macOS 예시
osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"'
open -a Claude

팁: Unauthorized는 보통 잘못된 cwd, 중복 서버 설정(로컬+원격 동시), 또는 만료된 인증 상태에서 발생합니다.

Antigravity (Google AI IDE)

Add as a remote MCP server - no authentication required:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "deadend": {
      "serverUrl": "https://deadends.dev/mcp",
      "type": "http"
    }
  }
}

Note: Antigravity uses serverUrl (not url). If you get Unauthorized, remove any existing deadend entries from the MCP Store and re-add manually using the config above. See the Antigravity MCP auth guide for general troubleshooting.

Python SDK

from generator.lookup import lookup, batch_lookup, search

# Single error lookup
result = lookup("ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'torch'")

# What NOT to try (saves tokens and time)
for d in result["dead_ends"]:
    print(f"AVOID: {d['action']} - fails {int(d['fail_rate']*100)}%")

# What actually works
for w in result["workarounds"]:
    print(f"TRY: {w['action']} - works {int(w['success_rate']*100)}%")

# Batch lookup (multiple errors at once)
results = batch_lookup(["error1", "error2", "error3"])

Example Response

## ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'X' (Python 3.11+)
Resolvable: true | Fix rate: 0.88

### Dead Ends (DO NOT TRY):
- pip install X with system Python (fails 70%): venv not activated

### Workarounds (TRY THESE):
- Create venv, activate, then pip install (works 95%)
- Use python -m pip install instead of bare pip (works 90%)

MCP Tools (11)

Tool	Description
lookup_error	Match an error message against 2000+ known patterns
get_error_detail	Full canon by ID
list_error_domains	All 54 domains with counts
search_errors	TF-IDF keyword search across all domains
list_errors_by_domain	All errors in a domain
list_errors_by_country	All country-scoped dead ends for an ISO alpha-2 code
get_country_summary	Country-level summary (entries, fix rate, domain mix)
batch_lookup	Look up multiple errors at once (max 10)
get_domain_stats	Domain quality metrics and confidence levels
get_error_chain	Traverse the error transition graph
report_outcome	Report whether a workaround worked (feeds back into success rates)

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
/api/v1/match.json	Lightweight regex matching (fits in context window)
/api/v1/index.json	Full error index with metadata (entries include country field for country canons)
/api/v1/{id}.json	Individual ErrorCanon
/api/v1/countries.json	Country index with counts and update dates
/api/v1/country/{cc}.json	Per-country aggregate (one call returns all entries for that country)
/api/v1/openapi.json	OpenAPI 3.1 spec
/api/v1/stats.json	Dataset quality metrics by domain
/api/v1/errors.ndjson	NDJSON streaming
/llms.txt	LLM-optimized listing (llmstxt.org)
/dashboard/	Data quality dashboard

Covered Domains (54)

Code error domains (51)

Domain	Errors	Examples
Python	88	ModuleNotFoundError, TypeError, KeyError, MemoryError, RecursionError
Node	70	ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND, EACCES, EADDRINUSE, heap OOM, ERR_REQUIRE_ESM
Docker	65	no space left, exec format error, bind address in use, healthcheck
Kubernetes	61	CrashLoopBackOff, ImagePullBackOff, OOMKilled, RBAC forbidden, HPA
Git	60	failed to push, merge conflicts, detached HEAD, stash apply, tags
CUDA	57	OOM, device-side assert, NCCL, cuDNN, tensor device mismatch
Go	54	nil pointer, unused import, interface conversion, slice out of range
Java	54	NullPointerException, ClassNotFound, OutOfMemoryError, connection pool
Database	52	deadlock, connection pool, slow query, replication lag
AWS	51	AccessDenied, S3 NoSuchBucket, Lambda timeout, CloudFormation rollback
.NET	50	NullReferenceException, LINQ translation, DI circular, EF concurrency
ROS 2	50	node spin, launch error, QoS mismatch, tf2 transform
TypeScript	49	TS2307, TS2322, TS2345, TS2532, TS7053
Rust	48	E0382 borrow, E0308 mismatch, E0277 trait, E0106 lifetime
+ 37 more domains	40+ each	CI/CD, PHP, Terraform, Networking, Next.js, React, pip, Android, ...

Country-scoped real-world domains (new, growing)

Domain	Covers	Example dead ends
visa	Pre-travel authorization, overstay, re-entry bans	ESTA 90-day rule (US), K-ETA (KR), ETIAS/EES (Schengen), Schengen 90/180 (DE)
banking	Account opening, KYC, foreigner rules	ARC required (KR), residence card 6-month (JP), SSN/ITIN (US)
emergency	Correct emergency numbers, transit	112 not 911 (DE), 999/101/111 (UK)
medical	Insurance, Rx import, coverage	Shaho/Kokuho (JP), NHIS 6-month (KR), EHIC ineligibility (DE), Adderall import ban (JP)
legal	Criminal liability, contract norms	§86a Nazi symbols (DE), Article 112 (TH), Article 301 (TR), alcohol ban (SA), key money (JP)
culture	Etiquette, taboos, social norms	Chopsticks in rice (JP), clock gifts (CN), Tiananmen silence, red ink names (KR), bonjour (FR)
food-safety	Water, pathogens, religious taboos	Tap water (MX), fugu license (JP), beef in India, pork in Indonesia
communication	Language register, terminology	Honorifics (KR), American War framing (VN), 'gringo' (MX), Cantonese vs Mandarin (HK)
safety	Driving, public-safety norms	Left-side drive (JP), Autobahn rules (DE), horn-language (IN)

Data Quality

All metrics are publicly available on the Data Quality Dashboard:

• 2,204 canon entries across 54 domains and 39+ countries
• Benchmark: 90% Precision@1, 95% Precision@3, 0.935 MRR (on code scenarios)
• Error transition graph: 4,330+ edges connecting related errors
• Community feedback loop: report_outcome updates fix success rates from real usage
• Country canons: every entry cites primary gov/embassy/regulator sources, reviewed by humans (review_status: human_reviewed), no LLM bulk generation

Country coverage (52 countries as of v0.10)

kr · jp · us · de · uk · fr · it · es · nl · ch · pt · ie · at · be · se · no · dk · fi · pl · gr · cn · hk · tw · th · in · vn · id · sg · ph · my · pk · bd · sa · ae · tr · il · ru · br · mx · ar · cl · co · pe · au · nz · eg · ma · et · ng · ke · za · ca

See /country/ hub or /api/v1/countries.json for the authoritative list with counts.

See docs/country-canon-guide.md for the authoring workflow, sourcing requirements, and confidence calibration.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for full details.

• GitHub 자동 수집 운영안: docs/GITHUB_DATA_COLLECTION_STRATEGY.md

• 자동 수집 주기: 6시간마다(하루 4회), 기본 품질 필터: min_score=2

• 수집 데이터는 후보이며, 최종 반영은 maintainer 검수 후 진행

• Submit a new error

• Report a workaround result

• Use report_outcome via MCP after trying a workaround

Development

pip install -e ".[dev]"

python -m generator.pipeline          # Full pipeline
python -m generator.build_site        # Build static site
python -m generator.validate          # Validate data + site
python -m pytest tests/ -v            # Run tests
ruff check generator/ tests/          # Lint
python benchmarks/run_benchmark.py    # Run benchmarks

SEO 점검 가이드 (모든 페이지 공통)

아래 명령은 템플릿에 핵심 SEO 신호가 있는지 빠르게 점검합니다.

python - <<'PY'
from pathlib import Path
files=[
  'generator/templates/index.html',
  'generator/templates/domain.html',
  'generator/templates/error_summary.html',
  'generator/templates/page.html',
  'generator/templates/search.html',
  'generator/templates/dashboard.html',
]
required=[
  '<title',
  'meta name="description"',
  'meta name="robots"',
  'link rel="canonical"',
  'meta property="og:title"',
  'meta name="twitter:card"',
]
for f in files:
    txt=Path(f).read_text()
    missing=[r for r in required if r not in txt]
    print(f'✅ {f}' if not missing else f'❌ {f} missing: {", ".join(missing)}')
PY

실제 빌드 결과물까지 확인하려면:

python -m generator.build_site
python -m http.server -d public 8080

그 후 브라우저에서 아래를 점검:

• view-source:http://localhost:8080/search/
• view-source:http://localhost:8080/dashboard/
• canonical / og / twitter / JSON-LD 유효성

Changelog

v0.10.0 - Country coverage expansion

• 250+ country canons across 52 countries (up from 56 across 20): emergency numbers for nearly every supported country, modern visa gateways (ETA/eVisitor, NZeTA, e-visas, digital arrival cards), medication-import rules, tap-water safety, left-hand-traffic safety, and banking access - all primary-sourced and human-reviewed
• By-destination cross-linking: country summary pages now link to other dead ends for the same country across domains (a "More dead ends in {country}" section), strengthening topical internal linking
• SEO: sitemap <priority> weighted by page strength (country/high-evidence pages ranked higher); JSON-LD omits empty dates
• Style: em-dash removed site-wide in favor of the hyphen

v0.9.0 - Country pivot

• New axis: country-scoped real-world dead ends alongside code errors
• 56+ country canons across 20+ countries - visa, banking, legal red lines, cultural taboos, food safety, emergency numbers, driving norms
• 3 new domains: visa, banking, emergency (plus extended use of existing legal, culture, medical, communication, food-safety, safety domains with country env segment)
• Per-country landing pages at /country/{cc}/ (e.g. /country/jp/)
• generator.country_canon_template helper for authoring new country canons with validated env-segment + audience + jurisdiction metadata
• docs/country-canon-guide.md: sourcing standards (primary > embassy

  reputable media), confidence calibration, slug/regex conventions

• Schema unchanged (backward-compatible enum extensions); existing 2,089 code canons preserved

v0.8.0

• Benchmark suite: 20 error scenarios, Precision@1=90%, MRR=0.935
• Data quality dashboard at /dashboard/ - transparent metrics
• Outcome feedback loop: report_outcome → aggregated stats → fix_success_rate updates
• Usage analytics: anonymous tool usage tracking (domain/match only, no PII)
• Community contribution: GitHub Issue templates for new errors and workaround reports
• TF-IDF search: improved relevance with smoothed IDF scoring
• Error transition graph: materialized graph with 4,330+ edges, hub node analysis
• 9 MCP tools (added report_outcome)

v0.7.0

• Expanded to 2089 error entries across 51 domains (from 1028/20)
• Added 23 new domains
• Fixed 73 regex patterns that didn't match their own signatures

v0.5.0

• page_url field added to index.json, errors.ndjson, and all SDK/MCP responses
• SEO fixes for canonical summary URLs

v0.4.0

• Initial public release with 1028 error entries across 20 domains

License

MIT (code) · CC BY 4.0 (data)

Ops Docs

• SEO 운영 가이드: docs/SEO_OPERATIONS_GUIDE.md
• PyPI 릴리즈 매뉴얼: docs/PYPI_RELEASE_MANUAL.md