tools-only Handling Partial or Missing Information
Opus: Recognizes when input is incomplete. Gracefully distinguishes between "not mentioned" and "doesn't exist." Asks for clarification or flags gaps appropriately.
Haiku: Tends to either fabricate missing information or silently skip it. May not distinguish between "unknown" and "not applicable."
Mitigation: Define explicit handling for every expected gap.
REQUIRED fields: name, email, date
OPTIONAL fields: phone, notes
For REQUIRED fields:
- If missing, output the field with value "MISSING — [field name] required"
- Do not skip the field. Do not guess.
For OPTIONAL fields:
- If missing, output the field with value "N/A"
- Do not skip the field.
When input quality varies:
If the input text is:
- Empty → output: {"status": "error", "message": "No input provided."}
- Under 10 words → output: {"status": "warning", "message": "Input too short for reliable analysis."}
- Otherwise → proceed with analysis.
Always provide the full output schema even for error/edge cases. Haiku follows "fill in this template" more reliably than "decide what to output based on input quality."