Handle errors by criticality

Choose error handling strategies based on operation criticality:

1. For critical operations that could corrupt data or state:
   • Use assertions/panics to fail fast
   • Example: Validating snapshot details before WAL deletion

     // Critical operation - use assert
     assert_eq!(snapshot_details, details, 
      "Snapshot mismatch before WAL deletion");
     

2. For recoverable operations:
   • Return Result/Error types
   • Implement retry with backpressure
   • Log appropriately (warn for temporary, error for persistent issues)

     // Recoverable operation - return Result
     async fn persist_data(&self) -> Result<(), Error> {
      loop {
        match self.try_persist().await {
            Ok(_) => return Ok(()),
            Err(e) => {
                warn!("Temporary persist error, retrying: {}", e);
                tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1)).await;
            }
        }
      }
     }
     

3. For race conditions and invariant violations:
   • Use panic/assert when they indicate programming errors
   • Return errors when they represent expected edge cases

This approach ensures critical errors fail fast while allowing recovery from transient failures.