openshift-eng Fetch ProwJob JSON
This skill fetches the prowjob.json artifact for a given Prow job and returns key fields including job metadata, spec details, status, and release annotations.
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when you need to:
- Get metadata about a specific Prow job run (status, timing, cluster, pod name)
- Determine what payload a job was tested against (
release.openshift.io/tag) - Determine the upgrade source version for upgrade jobs (
release.openshift.io/from-tag) - Get the release images (
RELEASE_IMAGE_LATEST,RELEASE_IMAGE_INITIAL) used in a job - Check the ci-operator target and variant for a job
- Get the GCS bucket path for a job's artifacts
Prerequisites
- Network Access: Must be able to reach the GCS web proxy
- Check:
curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' https://gcsweb-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/ - No authentication required
- Check:
Implementation Steps
Step 1: Parse the Prow Job URL
Extract the GCS path from the Prow job URL. Prow URLs follow this pattern:
https://prow.ci.openshift.org/view/gs/<bucket>/<path>/<job-name>/<build-id>
Extract everything after /view/ to get the GCS reference:
gs/<bucket>/<path>/<job-name>/<build-id>
Step 2: Construct the GCS Web URL
Convert the Prow URL to a gcsweb URL that serves the raw prowjob.json:
https://gcsweb-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/gcs/<bucket>/<path>/<job-name>/<build-id>/prowjob.json
Example:
- Input Prow URL:
https://prow.ci.openshift.org/view/gs/test-platform-results/logs/periodic-ci-openshift-release-master-ci-4.22-e2e-gcp-ovn-upgrade/2019864414127132672 - GCS Web URL:
https://gcsweb-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/gcs/test-platform-results/logs/periodic-ci-openshift-release-master-ci-4.22-e2e-gcp-ovn-upgrade/2019864414127132672/prowjob.json
The conversion is: replace https://prow.ci.openshift.org/view/ with https://gcsweb-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/ and append /prowjob.json.
Step 3: Fetch the prowjob.json
Use curl or WebFetch to retrieve the JSON content from the constructed URL.
curl -s "https://gcsweb-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/gcs/test-platform-results/logs/<job-name>/<build-id>/prowjob.json"
Step 4: Extract and Return Key Fields
From the full prowjob.json, extract and return the following fields:
Required Fields
| Field | JSON Path | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Job Name | spec.job |
Full periodic/presubmit/postsubmit job name |
| Job Type | spec.type |
periodic, presubmit, or postsubmit |
| Build ID | status.build_id |
Unique build identifier |
| State | status.state |
success, failure, aborted, pending, triggered |
| Description | status.description |
Human-readable status description |
| Start Time | status.startTime |
ISO 8601 timestamp |
| Completion Time | status.completionTime |
ISO 8601 timestamp (null if still running) |
| Cluster | spec.cluster |
Build cluster (e.g., build02, build05) |
| Pod Name | status.pod_name |
Kubernetes pod name |
| Prow URL | status.url |
Link back to the Prow job view |
| Payload Tag | metadata.annotations["release.openshift.io/tag"] |
The payload version tested or upgraded to (e.g., 4.22.0-0.ci-2026-02-06-195709). This is the payload the cluster was tested against or upgraded to. |
| Upgrade From Tag | metadata.annotations["release.openshift.io/from-tag"] |
The original payload version before upgrade (e.g., 4.22.0-0.ci-2026-02-05-195709). Only present for upgrade jobs. This is the version the cluster starts at before upgrading to the payload tag. |
| Release Source | metadata.annotations["release.openshift.io/source"] |
Release stream source (e.g., ocp/4.22) |
| Architecture | metadata.annotations["release.openshift.io/architecture"] |
CPU architecture (e.g., amd64, arm64, multi) |
| Refs | spec.extra_refs |
Array of repo references (org, repo, base_ref) |
| Target | From spec.pod_spec.containers[0].args |
The --target= value from ci-operator args |
| Variant | From spec.pod_spec.containers[0].args |
The --variant= value from ci-operator args |
| RELEASE_IMAGE_LATEST | From spec.pod_spec.containers[0].env |
The release image the job upgrades to or installs |
| RELEASE_IMAGE_INITIAL | From spec.pod_spec.containers[0].env |
The initial release image (for upgrade jobs) |
Notes on Release Annotations
release.openshift.io/tag: Present on release-controller-triggered jobs. Identifies the payload being validated. For upgrade jobs, this is the version the cluster upgrades to.release.openshift.io/from-tag: Only present on upgrade jobs. Identifies the version the cluster starts at before the upgrade. If absent, the job is not an upgrade job.- These annotations may not be present on manually triggered or presubmit jobs.
- The
RELEASE_IMAGE_LATESTandRELEASE_IMAGE_INITIALenvironment variables correspond to these tags and contain the full registry pull spec.
Error Handling
Case 1: Invalid Prow URL Format
If the URL doesn't match the expected pattern https://prow.ci.openshift.org/view/gs/...:
- Report the error to the user
- Show the expected URL format
Case 2: prowjob.json Not Found (404)
If the GCS web proxy returns a 404:
- The job may have been garbage collected or the URL may be incorrect
- Suggest verifying the Prow job URL is correct and the job exists
Case 3: Network Error
If the GCS web proxy is unreachable:
- Check connectivity to
gcsweb-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com - The proxy does not require VPN or authentication
Examples
Example 1: Fetch a Periodic Upgrade Job
Input:
https://prow.ci.openshift.org/view/gs/test-platform-results/logs/periodic-ci-openshift-release-master-ci-4.22-e2e-gcp-ovn-upgrade/2019864414127132672
Key output fields:
Job Name: periodic-ci-openshift-release-master-ci-4.22-e2e-gcp-ovn-upgrade
Job Type: periodic
Build ID: 2019864414127132672
State: failure
Start Time: 2026-02-06T20:02:58Z
Completion Time: 2026-02-07T00:36:09Z
Cluster: build02
Payload Tag: 4.22.0-0.ci-2026-02-06-195709
Upgrade From Tag: 4.22.0-0.ci-2026-02-05-195709
Architecture: amd64
Target: e2e-gcp-ovn-upgrade
Variant: ci-4.22
RELEASE_IMAGE_LATEST: registry.ci.openshift.org/ocp/release:4.22.0-0.ci-2026-02-06-195709
RELEASE_IMAGE_INITIAL:registry.ci.openshift.org/ocp/release:4.22.0-0.ci-2026-02-05-195709
Example 2: Non-Upgrade Job (No from-tag)
For a non-upgrade job, the Upgrade From Tag field will be absent:
Job Name: periodic-ci-openshift-release-master-ci-4.22-e2e-gcp-ovn
Job Type: periodic
Build ID: 2019864414127132999
State: success
Payload Tag: 4.22.0-0.ci-2026-02-06-195709
Upgrade From Tag: (not present - not an upgrade job)
Architecture: amd64
Target: e2e-gcp-ovn
Variant: ci-4.22
Notes
- The
prowjob.jsonis uploaded to GCS by Prow's sidecar after the job completes (or is aborted). It may not be available for jobs still in progress. - The
managedFieldssection of the metadata can be omitted from output as it contains only field ownership bookkeeping. - The
metadata.labelssection is truncated for some fields (e.g., job name) due to Kubernetes label length limits. Always usemetadata.annotationsorspec.jobfor the full job name. - The GCS web proxy at
gcsweb-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.comserves raw file content without authentication. - Duration can be calculated from
completionTime - startTime. - The
spec.decoration_config.timeoutfield shows the maximum allowed runtime for the job.
See Also
- Related Skill:
ci:prow-job-analysis(comprehensive Prow CI job failure analysis — test, install, disruption, and more)