Try / Except

Concept

When code might fail (network calls, file reads, bad data), wrap it in try/except. The try block runs your code. If it crashes, Python jumps to the matching except block instead of killing your program.

m3shdup/app/intrinsic.py

def idle_minutes() -> int:
    try:
        val = os.environ.get("M3SHDUP_INTRINSIC_IDLE_MINUTES", "10")
        return int(val)
    except ValueError:
        return 10

# If val = "10"  →  int("10") = 10  →  returns 10
# If val = "abc" →  int("abc") crashes  →  except catches it  →  returns 10

What's happening

This is a real pattern from your code. Someone could set the env var to garbage. Without try/except, int('abc') would crash the whole app. With it, you get a safe fallback to 10. The ValueError after except says 'only catch this specific error type.'

Concept

What's happening

Quick Check — 3 questions