diff --git a/metaflow/plugins/aip/aip_metaflow_step.py b/metaflow/plugins/aip/aip_metaflow_step.py
index de1ea1b04e4..77b38df7ec4 100644
--- a/metaflow/plugins/aip/aip_metaflow_step.py
+++ b/metaflow/plugins/aip/aip_metaflow_step.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
     AIP_JOIN_METAFLOW_S3OP_NUM_WORKERS,
 )
 from metaflow.plugins.cards.card_client import get_cards, Card
+from metaflow.plugins.cards.exception import CardNotPresentException
 from ... import R, metaflow_version
 
 
@@ -45,11 +46,22 @@ def _write_card_artifacts(
     task_id_template: str = f"{task_id}.{passed_in_split_indexes}".strip(".")
     pathspec = f"{flow_name}/{run_id}/{step_name}/{task_id_template}"
 
-    try:
-        cards: List[Card] = list(get_cards(pathspec))
-    except Exception as e:
-        # Workflow should still succeed even if cards fail to render
-        logging.exception(f"Failed to get card artifacts for {pathspec}: {e}")
+    retry_limit = 3
+    cards: List[Card] = []
+    for attempt in range(retry_limit):
+        try:
+            cards: List[Card] = list(get_cards(pathspec))
+        except:
+            if attempt == retry_limit - 1:  # Last attempt failed
+                logging.exception(
+                    f"Failed to get cards from Metaflow backend for pathspec {pathspec}"
+                    "Please view cards through Metaflow UI, or refer to https://docs.metaflow.org/metaflow/visualizing-results/effortless-task-inspection-with-default-cards#accessing-cards-via-an-api"
+                )
+            continue
+        break
+
+    if not cards:
+        return
 
     # sort such that the default card is first
     sorted_cards = sorted(
@@ -63,7 +75,10 @@ def _write_card_artifacts(
             with open(file_name, "w") as card_file:
                 card_file.write(card.get())
         except Exception:
-            logging.exception(f"Failed to write card {index} of type {card.type}")
+            logging.exception(
+                f"Failed to write card {index} of type {card.type} to Argo artifact output."
+                "Please view cards through Metaflow UI, or refer to https://docs.metaflow.org/metaflow/visualizing-results/effortless-task-inspection-with-default-cards#accessing-cards-via-an-api"
+            )
             raise
 
 
@@ -143,12 +158,12 @@ def _step_cli(
             "--max-value-size=0",
             input_paths,
         ]
-        param_cmd: str = "if ! %s >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then %s && %s; fi" % (
+        cmd: str = "if ! %s >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then %s && %s; fi" % (
             " ".join(exists),
             export_params,
             " ".join(params),
         )
-        cmds.append(param_cmd)
+        cmds.append(cmd)
 
     top_level: List[str] = [
         "--quiet",
@@ -371,7 +386,7 @@ def aip_metaflow_step(
         flow_name,
         is_interruptible,
     )
-    step_cmd: str = cmd_template.format(
+    cmd: str = cmd_template.format(
         run_id=metaflow_run_id,
         passed_in_split_indexes=passed_in_split_indexes,
     )
@@ -406,13 +421,13 @@ def aip_metaflow_step(
     # TODO: Map username to KFP specific user/profile/namespace
     # Running Metaflow runtime (runs user code, handles state)
     with Popen(
-        step_cmd, shell=True, universal_newlines=True, executable="/bin/bash", env=env
+        cmd, shell=True, universal_newlines=True, executable="/bin/bash", env=env
     ) as process:
         pass
 
     if process.returncode != 0:
         logging.info(f"---- Following command returned: {process.returncode}")
-        logging.info(step_cmd.replace(" && ", "\n"))
+        logging.info(cmd.replace(" && ", "\n"))
         logging.info("----")
         raise Exception("Returned: %s" % process.returncode)