Fallbacks and reset

Rule for live demos

Do not debug in front of the room for more than 30 seconds. Switch to a saved artifact, restore a checkpoint, or move to the next segment.

Per-step fallbacks

Demo step	If it fails	Do this instead
Lab 05 before run	The agent stalls or answers badly.	Show the saved baseline run file and explain the score.
Lab 06 assessor	The assessor misses an obvious issue.	Open the saved assessment notes or the generated rules checklist.
Lab 07 handoff	The handoff does not appear.	Copy the saved handoff prompt into the improver agent manually.
Lab 07 edits	The improver changes too much.	Restore the checkpoint and show the prepared diff.
Lab 08 DAX tests	Power BI Desktop is closed or slow.	Show the saved `Invoke-DaxQuestionTests.ps1` output.
Lab 10 comparison	The after run is not ready.	Use the sample run and Expected results.
Lab 11 hook denial	The hook wrapper cannot find `.venv`.	Explain the wrapper’s safe allow behavior and show the prepared denial output.
Lab 12 PR review	Copilot review is delayed.	Switch to the pre-recorded PR or saved review comment.
Lab 13 cloud agent	Cloud agent queue is slow.	Show the pre-opened issue, setup workflow, and completed cloud PR.
Lab 14 extension	Time is short.	Show the smallest file change, then point to the full lab.

Agent stalls

If an agent stops making progress:

Stop waiting after 30 seconds in the short demo or 60 seconds in the workshop.
Say: “This is why the lab keeps sample runs and checkpoints. We do not need the live agent to be perfect to teach the workflow.”
Open the saved run or restore the checkpoint.
Continue from the next planned segment.

Bad answer

If an agent gives a wrong answer, do not hide it. Use it as the teaching point:

Baseline run: “This is the failure we expect before the model is AI-ready.”
After run: “This is why we score against a deterministic oracle and keep DAX tests.”
Review run: “This is why PR review remains human-owned.”

Restore a checkpoint

Start from a clean working tree. The restore script creates a new lab/<checkpoint>-<timestamp> branch for you:

pwsh ./scripts/lab/Restore-LabCheckpoint.ps1 -Checkpoint lab02-start

Use a more specific checkpoint when you are restarting later in the demo. After restoring a checkpoint, run Test-LabProgress.ps1 -Lab NN for each lab listed in that checkpoint’s verify field. lab02-start has no verify list.

Full reset

When the working tree is no longer useful:

git switch main
git pull --ff-only
pwsh ./scripts/lab/Restore-LabCheckpoint.ps1 -Checkpoint lab02-start

This gives you a clean branch at the early baseline. Push it only if you need a remote branch for a PR or cloud agent.

Pre-recorded PR path

If GitHub, CI, or Copilot review is slow:

Open the prepared PR.
Show the PR template and changed files.
Show the existing Copilot review comment.
Show the CI run summary.
Say: “This is the same workflow. We are using a completed run so we can stay on time.”