Workflow Fixer

Workflow Fixer Skills

Overview

This skill provides expertise in diagnosing CI/CD workflow failures and implementing automated fixes. It combines log analysis, pattern recognition, and targeted repairs to quickly resolve pipeline issues.

Activation Triggers

The workflow-fixer skill activates when:

• User mentions workflow/CI/build failures
• A GitHub Actions run has failed status
• Error patterns are detected in discussion
• Keywords match: failed, broken, ci, workflow, pipeline, fix

Log Analysis

Fetching Logs

# Via GitHub CLI
gh run list --status failure --limit 5
gh run view <run-id> --log-failed

# Via MCP Tools (preferred when available)
# Use github-mcp-server-actions_list with method: "list_workflow_runs"
# Use github-mcp-server-get_job_logs with run_id and failed_only: true

Error Pattern Matching

Log Parsing Commands

# Extract error lines
grep -E "error|ERROR|Error|failed|FAILED|Failed" logs.txt | head -20

# Find stack traces
grep -A 10 "Traceback\|at .*\.ts:\|at .*\.js:" logs.txt

# Nix-specific errors
grep -E "error: |builder for .* failed" logs.txt

Fix Strategies

Dependency Issues

# NPM
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

# Pip/Python
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt --upgrade

# Nix
nix flake update
nix flake check --no-build

# Pixi
rm -f pixi.lock
pixi install

Build Failures

# Clean rebuild
rm -rf build install log
colcon build --symlink-install

# Nix rebuild
nix develop --command echo "rebuilt"

# Check for missing dependencies
nix flake show

Test Failures

# Run specific test with verbose output
pytest -xvs path/to/test.py::test_name

# Run with coverage to find issues
coverage run -m pytest path/to/test.py
coverage report -m

# Mark flaky test (last resort)
@pytest.mark.flaky(reruns=3)
def test_sometimes_fails():
    ...

Environment Issues

# Add missing environment variable
env:
  MY_VAR: ${{ secrets.MY_SECRET }}

# Fix permission issues
permissions:
  contents: read
  packages: write

# Add required setup step
- uses: actions/setup-python@v5
  with:
    python-version: '3.11'

Workflow Debugging

Step-by-step Investigation

1. Identify the failed run

   gh run list --status failure --limit 1
   

2. Get failed job details

   gh run view <run-id> --json jobs --jq '.jobs[] | select(.conclusion=="failure")'
   

3. Extract relevant logs

   gh run view <run-id> --log-failed 2>&1 | tail -100
   

4. Identify error pattern

   • Look for Error:, error:, FAILED, Exception
   • Check exit codes (137 = OOM, 143 = SIGTERM)

5. Trace to source

   • Find file and line number from error
   • Check recent commits that touched that file

6. Implement minimal fix

   • Change only what's necessary
   • Test locally if possible

7. Verify fix

   • Push and monitor new run
   • Check related jobs don't break

Common Workflow Patterns

Nix + Pixi (This Repository)

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - uses: DeterminateSystems/nix-installer-action@v21
  - uses: DeterminateSystems/magic-nix-cache-action@v13
  - run: nix develop .#default --command pixi install
  - run: nix develop .#default --command pixi run <command>

Common Fixes for This Repository

Integration with MCP

When GitHub MCP tools are available, use them for structured data:

# List failed workflow runs
actions_list(
    method="list_workflow_runs",
    owner="FlexNetOS",
    repo="ripple-env",
    workflow_runs_filter={"status": "failure"}
)

# Get failed job logs
get_job_logs(
    owner="FlexNetOS",
    repo="ripple-env",
    run_id=12345,
    failed_only=True,
    return_content=True
)

Related Skills

• DevOps - CI/CD pipeline management
• Nix Environment - Nix-specific debugging
• ROS2 Development - ROS2 build issues

Best Practices

1. Always read logs first - Don't guess at the problem
2. Look for the first error - Later errors are often cascading failures
3. Check recent changes - Most failures come from recent commits
4. Test fixes locally - When possible, verify before pushing
5. Document non-obvious fixes - Add comments explaining why
6. Don't mask errors - Fix root causes, not symptoms
7. Consider flakiness - Some failures are intermittent