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Orchestrate: The Full Four-Week Capstone — Automation For Explorers

Day 28 · ~12 min●

Capstone day. One function, three APIs, every defensive pattern from this track baked in. What does the returned receipt need to show so the caller can log a full audit of each run?

Counts for each source, the list of task titles written, and a status? So a single dict has five or six keys that map to each step?

Exactly. Every step gets its own key. The outer dict is an audit log for one execution:

python

receipt = {
    "emails": email_count,
    "events": event_count,
    "tasks_created": created,
    "status": "ok",
}

And the orchestrator combines the safe-read wrapper from Day 24, the per-item guard from Day 26, and the validated send from Day 27 — each in its own section of the function?

Stack the patterns you already know. Read defensively, write defensively, report everything. Sixteen lines end to end:

python

def orchestrate(max_each: int) -> dict:
    try:
        emails = toolset.execute_action(Action.GMAIL_FETCH_EMAILS, {"max_results": max_each})
        messages = emails.get("messages", [])
    except Exception:
        messages = []
    try:
        events = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLECALENDAR_FIND_EVENT, {"query": ""})
        event_count = len(events.get("items", []))
    except Exception:
        event_count = -1
    created = []
    for m in messages:
        try:
            toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLETASKS_CREATE_TASK, {"title": m.get("snippet", "")})
            created.append(m.get("snippet", ""))
        except Exception:
            continue
    return {"emails": len(messages), "events": event_count, "tasks_created": created, "status": "ok"}

If every defensive wrapper is in place, can this function ever actually fail? Or does the orchestrator itself need a top-level try/except?

Every API boundary is guarded — the wrappers cover network failures, missing keys, and bad writes. The only way this function raises is a local bug in your own code, which a top-level try/except would hide and hurt. Let local bugs propagate so you catch them in dev.

So this sixteen-line function is the whole track — three APIs, two weeks of reads, two weeks of writes, four weeks of defence, all in one return?

One cron-ready function. You can schedule this tonight, log the receipt dict for six months, and the script will still be running in the background — quietly doing what used to take half your morning.

Capstone Shape

TL;DR: Every pattern from this track stacks into one defensive multi-API function.

Safe read — try/except around each execute_action
Per-item guard — try/except inside the write loop
Audit dict — one key per step plus a status

Layers of defence

Failure	Handled by
Gmail down	Outer try/except → empty messages list
Calendar down	Outer try/except → event_count = -1
One task write fails	Inner try/except → skip one, continue
Missing list key	`.get(key, [])` default

Four layers, sixteen lines, zero crashes. That is the finish line for this track.

Day 28 · ~12 min●

Capstone day. One function, three APIs, every defensive pattern from this track baked in. What does the returned receipt need to show so the caller can log a full audit of each run?

Counts for each source, the list of task titles written, and a status? So a single dict has five or six keys that map to each step?

Exactly. Every step gets its own key. The outer dict is an audit log for one execution:

python

receipt = {
    "emails": email_count,
    "events": event_count,
    "tasks_created": created,
    "status": "ok",
}

And the orchestrator combines the safe-read wrapper from Day 24, the per-item guard from Day 26, and the validated send from Day 27 — each in its own section of the function?

Stack the patterns you already know. Read defensively, write defensively, report everything. Sixteen lines end to end:

python

def orchestrate(max_each: int) -> dict:
    try:
        emails = toolset.execute_action(Action.GMAIL_FETCH_EMAILS, {"max_results": max_each})
        messages = emails.get("messages", [])
    except Exception:
        messages = []
    try:
        events = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLECALENDAR_FIND_EVENT, {"query": ""})
        event_count = len(events.get("items", []))
    except Exception:
        event_count = -1
    created = []
    for m in messages:
        try:
            toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLETASKS_CREATE_TASK, {"title": m.get("snippet", "")})
            created.append(m.get("snippet", ""))
        except Exception:
            continue
    return {"emails": len(messages), "events": event_count, "tasks_created": created, "status": "ok"}

If every defensive wrapper is in place, can this function ever actually fail? Or does the orchestrator itself need a top-level try/except?

So this sixteen-line function is the whole track — three APIs, two weeks of reads, two weeks of writes, four weeks of defence, all in one return?

Capstone Shape

TL;DR: Every pattern from this track stacks into one defensive multi-API function.

Safe read — try/except around each execute_action
Per-item guard — try/except inside the write loop
Audit dict — one key per step plus a status

Layers of defence

Failure	Handled by
Gmail down	Outer try/except → empty messages list
Calendar down	Outer try/except → event_count = -1
One task write fails	Inner try/except → skip one, continue
Missing list key	`.get(key, [])` default

Four layers, sixteen lines, zero crashes. That is the finish line for this track.

def orchestrate(max_each: int) -> dict: try: emails = toolset.execute_action(Action.GMAIL_FETCH_EMAILS, {"max_results": max_each}) messages = emails.get("messages", []) except Exception: messages = [] try: events = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLECALENDAR_FIND_EVENT, {"query": ""}) event_count = len(events.get("items", [])) except Exception: event_count = -1 created = [] for m in messages: try: toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLETASKS_CREATE_TASK, {"title": m.get("snippet", "")}) created.append(m.get("snippet", "")) except Exception: continue return {"emails": len(messages), "events": event_count, "tasks_created": created, "status": "ok"}

Capstone Shape

TL;DR: Every pattern from this track stacks into one defensive multi-API function.

Safe read — try/except around each execute_action

Per-item guard — try/except inside the write loop

Audit dict — one key per step plus a status

Layers of defence

Failure	Handled by
Gmail down	Outer try/except → empty messages list
Calendar down	Outer try/except → event_count = -1
One task write fails	Inner try/except → skip one, continue
Missing list key	`.get(key, [])` default

Four layers, sixteen lines, zero crashes. That is the finish line for this track.

Capstone Shape

TL;DR: Every pattern from this track stacks into one defensive multi-API function.

Safe read — try/except around each execute_action

Per-item guard — try/except inside the write loop

Audit dict — one key per step plus a status

Layers of defence

Failure	Handled by
Gmail down	Outer try/except → empty messages list
Calendar down	Outer try/except → event_count = -1
One task write fails	Inner try/except → skip one, continue
Missing list key	`.get(key, [])` default

Four layers, sixteen lines, zero crashes. That is the finish line for this track.

Capstone Shape

Layers of defence

Capstone Shape

Layers of defence

Capstone Shape

Layers of defence

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Capstone Shape

Layers of defence

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