atlasbot: guard open-ended LLM calls

services/comms/scripts/atlasbot/bot.py

@@ -2530,6 +2530,26 @@ def _open_ended_system() -> str:
     )
 
 
+def _ollama_call_safe(
+    hist_key,
+    prompt: str,
+    *,
+    context: str,
+    fallback: str,
+    system_override: str | None = None,
+) -> str:
+    try:
+        return _ollama_call(
+            hist_key,
+            prompt,
+            context=context,
+            use_history=False,
+            system_override=system_override,
+        )
+    except Exception:
+        return fallback
+
+
 def _candidate_note(candidate: dict[str, Any]) -> str:
     claim = str(candidate.get("claim") or candidate.get("summary") or "")
     return claim[:160] + ("…" if len(claim) > 160 else "")
@@ -2569,11 +2589,11 @@ def _open_ended_fast(
         f"Question: {prompt}"
     )
     context = _append_history_context(fact_pack, history_lines)
-    reply = _ollama_call(
+    reply = _ollama_call_safe(
         ("fast", "open"),
         synthesis_prompt,
         context=context,
-        use_history=False,
+        fallback="I don't have enough data to answer that.",
         system_override=_open_ended_system(),
     )
     return _ensure_scores(reply)
@@ -2690,11 +2710,11 @@ def _open_ended_deep(
         f"Selected: {json.dumps(top, ensure_ascii=False)}"
     )
     context = _append_history_context(fact_pack, history_lines)
-    reply = _ollama_call(
+    reply = _ollama_call_safe(
         ("deep", "open"),
         synth_prompt,
         context=context,
-        use_history=False,
+        fallback="I don't have enough data to answer that.",
         system_override=_open_ended_system(),
     )
     state.update("done", step=6)