---
title: "Recover a failed media processing job"
description: "Verify the visible lifecycle of a prepared failed processing job and its retry, using independent job evidence to distinguish recovery from a stale preview."
canonical_url: "https://vostride.com/agent-library/files-media/media-processing-recovery.md"
md_url: "https://vostride.com/agent-library/files-media/media-processing-recovery.md"
content_kind: "recipe"
topic: "files-media"
---

# Recover a failed media processing job

Verify the visible lifecycle of a prepared failed processing job and its retry, using independent job evidence to distinguish recovery from a stale preview.

## Risk

A media card can show a success badge while serving no usable rendition. The fixture must control the failed and recovered processing outcomes without requiring the agent to attach a local file.

## Fixtures

- A test-owned app-resident video asset starts with a fixture-controlled failed transcode job and no ready preview.
- The prepared retry path succeeds once and produces a short clip with a visible GREEN FRAME marker.
- A read-only job check records asset identity, terminal status, and the generated rendition identifier independently of the UI.

## Steps

1. Open the failed asset and verify a processing error with an available Retry action, not an indefinite loading placeholder.
2. Activate Retry once and verify the asset enters the documented queued or processing state.
3. Wait for the prepared job to complete and verify the UI shows Ready for the same asset identity.
4. Open the preview and verify the expected GREEN FRAME content is rendered.
5. Run the prepared job verification and confirm the successful terminal status and rendition identifier belong to this asset, then reload its detail to verify Ready persists.

## Expected results

- The retry transitions the same asset from failure to a successful terminal job state.
- A usable rendered preview appears after recovery and matches the fixture clip.
- The job evidence identifies a newly ready rendition rather than a previously cached successful asset.

## False-pass traps

- A Ready badge without a playable or rendered preview misses broken rendition URLs.
- Repeatedly clicking Retry until success hides whether one intended retry created duplicate jobs.

## Cleanup

- Delete the test asset, its processing jobs, and fixture renditions.
- Disable the prepared transcode failure mode.

## Use with agent-qa

Adapt this test design to your application's acceptance criteria and configured target using the [recipe execution guide](/agent-library/software-factory/turn-a-recipe-into-an-agent-qa-test.md). External fixture setup and non-UI checks require your own supported hooks or test tooling. Validate the authored test, execute it, and inspect the completed evidence; this recipe is not a recorded test result.

## References

- [agent-qa test](/docs/agent-qa/configuration/test.md)
- [agent-qa first test](/docs/agent-qa/guides/first-test.md)
- [agent-qa web testing](/docs/agent-qa/guides/web-testing.md)

- [Files and media QA recipes](/agent-library/files-media.md)
- [Software factory QA library](/agent-library.md)