A safe-looking default (`0`, `[]`, `{ ok: true }`) standing in for missing input or a failed call. A loud error becomes a quiet wrong answer.
Each example shows the exact code shape the rule is looking for, then the smallest version that keeps the intent without hiding risk or adding noise.
export async function chargeCustomer(order: Order) {
try {
return await payments.charge(order.total, order.customerId)
} catch {
return { ok: true }
}
}Deterministic AST match on JS/TS: flags `||`/`??` defaults and `Math.max`/`Math.min` clamps applied to failure-state values when nearby text mentions a fallback, missing, failed, or impossible state, and catch blocks that return a safe default or success-shaped object without surfacing the error.
export async function chargeCustomer(order: Order): Promise<ChargeResult> {
try {
const receipt = await payments.charge(order.total, order.customerId)
return { ok: true, receipt }
} catch (error) {
return { ok: false, error }
}
}Handle the missing input explicitly: require the value, return a typed error, or name the conservative estimate so callers know it is not authoritative.
Agents prefer code that never throws, so they cover missing or failed state with a value the caller cannot tell apart from a real result.
ai-slop/hidden-fallback
ai-slop
Deterministic AST match on JS/TS: flags `||`/`??` defaults and `Math.max`/`Math.min` clamps applied to failure-state values when nearby text mentions a fallback, missing, failed, or impossible state, and catch blocks that return a safe default or success-shaped object without surfacing the error.
`process.env` defaults, string defaults that are not status words, catch blocks that log, throw, or return the caught error, and non-production paths are not flagged.
Introduced in aislop v0.13.0 for JS/TS and calibrated in v0.13.1.