Tempo

Tempo Operator QE Agent — Test Failure Triage and Fix

This skill drives an agentic loop that takes failing CI test results for the Tempo Operator, reruns the failing tests, determines root cause (product bug vs broken test), and either fixes the test or writes a structured bug report.

Test Infrastructure Overview

Step 0 — Read Setup Context and Fetch the Step Script

Read ${SHARED_DIR}/qe-agent-context.json. The test step writes it at exit time:

{
  "step_script_ref": "distributed-tracing/tests/tempo/upstream/distributed-tracing-tests-tempo-upstream-commands.sh",
  "has_test_failures": true,
  "env": {}
}

• step_script_ref — path relative to ci-operator/step-registry/ in the openshift/release repo
• env — runtime env var values that were injected at job time and are needed to reproduce setup (e.g. branch names, image refs); most steps have an empty env

Construct the raw GitHub URL and fetch the script:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openshift/release/main/ci-operator/step-registry/<step_script_ref>

Read the script carefully. It is divided into two logical sections:

1. Setup — everything before the chainsaw test commands: cloning repos, oc apply, kubectl create, CSV patches, make build, env variable setup
2. Test execution — the chainsaw test invocations themselves

Step 0a — Verify Cluster Stability

Before running any prerequisites setup or test reruns, confirm the cluster is stable. The original CI test step may have applied resources that triggered MachineConfig updates — running tests while nodes are updating causes spurious failures.

oc get machineconfigpools.machineconfiguration.openshift.io

Each MachineConfigPool must have UPDATED=True, UPDATING=False, and DEGRADED=False before proceeding.

If any pool is not ready, wait and recheck every 60 seconds:

# Wait until all MCPs are updated, not updating, and not degraded.
# Split into two 10-minute phases to stay within the Bash tool's timeout limit.
# Phase 1: wait up to 10 minutes
deadline=$((SECONDS + 600))
while oc get machineconfigpools.machineconfiguration.openshift.io \
    -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Updated")].status}{" "}{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Updating")].status}{" "}{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Degraded")].status}{"\n"}{end}' \
    | grep -qvE '^True False False$'; do
  echo "MCPs not ready yet, waiting 60s..."
  if (( SECONDS >= deadline )); then
    echo "Phase 1 timeout — MCPs still not ready after 10 minutes. Continuing in phase 2."
    oc get machineconfigpools.machineconfiguration.openshift.io
    break
  fi
  sleep 60
  oc get machineconfigpools.machineconfiguration.openshift.io
done

If the first phase did not converge (the loop exited via the break), run a second Bash invocation to continue waiting:

# Phase 2: wait up to 10 more minutes (total 20 minutes across both phases)
deadline=$((SECONDS + 600))
while oc get machineconfigpools.machineconfiguration.openshift.io \
    -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Updated")].status}{" "}{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Updating")].status}{" "}{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Degraded")].status}{"\n"}{end}' \
    | grep -qvE '^True False False$'; do
  echo "MCPs not ready yet, waiting 60s..."
  if (( SECONDS >= deadline )); then
    echo "ERROR: MCPs still not ready after 20 minutes — cluster is unhealthy."
    oc get machineconfigpools.machineconfiguration.openshift.io
    exit 1
  fi
  sleep 60
  oc get machineconfigpools.machineconfiguration.openshift.io
done
echo "All MCPs ready — proceeding."

Step 0b — Re-establish the Test Environment

Export any env vars from the env field, then run the setup section of the fetched script — the commands up to (but not including) the first chainsaw test invocation.

Required adaptations:

After setup, cd into the repo directory and proceed with Steps 1–6.

If qe-agent-context.json does not exist, infer the suite from the JUnit file name prefix (junit_tempo_* → Tempo) and skip the rerun — proceed directly to diagnosis from the JUnit content and cluster state.

Step 1 — Parse JUnit XMLs and Identify Failures

Read all JUnit XML files from ${SHARED_DIR}/qe-agent-junit-*.xml (flat files copied by the test step trap function).

For each XML file, extract:

• Suite name (name attribute on <testsuite>)
• Failed test cases: <testcase> elements that contain a <failure> or <error> child
• Failure message: the message attribute and text body of <failure>/<error>
• Stack trace / details: the full text content of the failure element

Group failures by suite so you process each operator's failures together.

If no ${SHARED_DIR}/qe-agent-junit-*.xml files are found, exit with a clear message — the test steps did not run or produced no results.

High-failure triage: more than 5 failures total

When the total number of failing test cases is more than 5, it is very likely that all failures share a single root cause (operator crash, missing CRD, network partition, install failure, MinIO/storage not ready) rather than being independent bugs.

What to do:

• Pattern found: pick the simplest failing test (fewest steps, shortest failure message) as the representative case, record the pattern in the analysis summary, and proceed through Steps 2–5 for that one test only.
• No pattern: process failures individually, cap at 3 tests, and note this in the summary.

Write the pattern conclusion near the top of ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/qe-agent-analysis.md.

Step 2 — Locate Test Source Files

The JUnit test case name usually matches the folder name under the test directory. For example, a failing test named e2e-openshift/tls-profile corresponds to tests/e2e-openshift/tls-profile/. Inside that folder look for:

• chainsaw-test.yaml — the test definition (steps, assertions)
• *.yaml resource manifests applied during the test
• assert.yaml / error.yaml — explicit assertion files

To find the right folder when the name mapping is unclear, use:

find <repo-root>/tests -type d -path "*/<test-name>"

Use -path (not -name) — -path matches the full directory path so nested folders like e2e-openshift/tls-profile are matched; -name only matches the final path component and will miss them.

Once located, record this as TEST_DIR (e.g. tests/e2e-openshift/tls-profile). The rerun commands in Step 3 reference ${TEST_DIR} directly.

Use the destination path from the fetched step script as your repo root — do not guess or scan /tmp/ broadly.

Step 3 — Rerun the Failing Tests

Rerun only the specific failing tests, not the entire suite, to save time and keep the rerun focused.

Cleaning up test resources before each rerun

Chainsaw reruns use --skip-delete so resources remain on the cluster after the test finishes — this lets you inspect them and understand why a test failed. However, because resources persist, you must clean up before running the same test again.

kubectl delete -f <test-folder>/ is not sufficient — chainsaw tests create resources in multiple ways beyond static YAML files: script steps that run kubectl apply, resources created by the operator itself (e.g., a TempoStack CR triggers the operator to create Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps), cluster-scoped resources (ClusterRoles, ClusterRoleBindings), and chainsaw's own per-test namespaces (prefixed chainsaw-).

Reliable cleanup approach:

# 1. Delete the chainsaw test namespace and wait for it to terminate
kubectl delete namespace chainsaw-<test-name> --ignore-not-found=true
kubectl wait --for=delete namespace/chainsaw-<test-name> --timeout=5m 2>/dev/null || true

# 2. Delete cluster-scoped resources created by this test
kubectl get clusterrole,clusterrolebinding -l app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=chainsaw --show-labels 2>/dev/null | head -20
kubectl delete clusterrole,clusterrolebinding \
  -l app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=chainsaw \
  -l chainsaw.kyverno.io/test-namespace=chainsaw-<test-name> \
  --ignore-not-found=true
# Fallback: -l chainsaw.kyverno.io/test-name=<test-name>

# 3. Verify cleanup before rerunning
kubectl get namespace | grep "chainsaw-<test-name>" && echo "WARNING: namespace still exists" || echo "Clean"

Read chainsaw-test.yaml for the failing test before cleanup — it tells you what namespaces, CRs, and cluster-scoped resources the test creates.

Tempo Operator — first rerun

Tempo always uses --config .chainsaw-openshift.yaml (visible in the fetched step script). Re-export GOPATH for stage and downstream tests so test helpers compiled by make build are on PATH.

# Declare TEST_DIR explicitly — each bash invocation starts a fresh shell.
TEST_DIR="<value resolved in Step 2>"

# Re-export GOPATH for stage/downstream tests (upstream tests don't need this)
export GOPATH=/tmp/go GOBIN=/tmp/go/bin GOCACHE=/tmp/.cache/go-build
export PATH="/tmp/go/bin:${PATH}"

unset NAMESPACE
chainsaw test \
  --skip-delete \
  --config .chainsaw-openshift.yaml \
  --quiet \
  --report-name "junit_rerun_tempo" \
  --report-path "${ARTIFACT_DIR}" \
  --report-format XML \
  --test-dir "${TEST_DIR}"

After the rerun, read the fresh JUnit XML. If still failing → proceed to Step 4. If it passed → possible flakiness; run 3 more times (see flakiness loop below).

Flakiness confirmation loop

If the test passes on the first rerun, run it 3 more times sequentially. Clean up test resources before each run (same namespace + clusterrole delete pattern as above). Use a unique --report-name per run so the XMLs don't overwrite each other:

# Each bash invocation starts a fresh shell — re-declare TEST_DIR from Step 2.
TEST_DIR="<value resolved in Step 2>"

for i in 2 3 4; do
  kubectl delete namespace chainsaw-<test-name> --ignore-not-found=true
  kubectl wait --for=delete namespace/chainsaw-<test-name> --timeout=5m 2>/dev/null || true
  kubectl delete clusterrole,clusterrolebinding \
    -l app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=chainsaw \
    -l chainsaw.kyverno.io/test-namespace=chainsaw-<test-name> \
    --ignore-not-found=true

  # Re-export GOPATH for stage/downstream so test helpers on /tmp/go/bin are accessible
  export GOPATH=/tmp/go GOBIN=/tmp/go/bin GOCACHE=/tmp/.cache/go-build
  export PATH="/tmp/go/bin:${PATH}"

  unset NAMESPACE
  chainsaw test \
    --skip-delete \
    --config .chainsaw-openshift.yaml \
    --quiet \
    --report-name "junit_rerun_tempo_run${i}" \
    --report-path "${ARTIFACT_DIR}" \
    --report-format XML \
    --test-dir "${TEST_DIR}"
done

After all 4 runs, count how many passed vs failed. Record the pass/fail pattern (e.g., PFPP, PPFP). Then inspect the test source:

• Look for missing wait blocks between an action and an assertion
• Look for very short timeout values in chainsaw steps (e.g., timeout: 30s where the operator may take longer to reconcile a TempoStack)
• Look for assertions that depend on ordering of concurrent resources

If the failure is reproducible even 1 out of 4 runs, classify as FLAKY and proceed to Step 5c to fix it.

Step 4 — Diagnose: Product Bug vs Test Issue

Read the failure message, rerun output, and test source files together. Then run the full operator diagnostics below before making any classification decision — the logs and resource status are the primary evidence.

Tempo Operator Diagnostics

# Operator pod status and logs
oc get pods -n openshift-tempo-operator
oc logs -n openshift-tempo-operator deploy/tempo-operator-controller --tail=150
oc logs -n openshift-tempo-operator deploy/tempo-operator-controller --previous --tail=50 2>/dev/null || true

# TempoStack and TempoMonolithic instances across all namespaces
oc get tempostacks --all-namespaces -o wide 2>/dev/null || true
oc get tempostacks --all-namespaces -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.metadata.namespace}/{.metadata.name}: {.status.conditions[*].type}={.status.conditions[*].status} {.status.conditions[*].message}{"\n"}{end}' 2>/dev/null || true
oc get tempomonolithics --all-namespaces -o wide 2>/dev/null || true

# Operand pods in the test namespace (query gateway, distributor, ingester, compactor, querier)
oc get pods -n <test-namespace> -o wide
oc describe pods -n <test-namespace> | grep -A10 -E 'Events:|Reason:|State:|Exit Code:|OOMKilled'

# Events in operator namespace and test namespace
oc get events -n openshift-tempo-operator --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' | tail -20
oc get events -n <test-namespace> --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' | tail -30

# Storage secret and object store config (common Tempo failure cause)
oc get secret -n <test-namespace> | grep -E 'minio|s3|gcs|azure|storage'

# CSV and subscription status
oc get csv -n openshift-tempo-operator -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.metadata.name}: {.status.phase} — {.status.message}{"\n"}{end}'
oc get subscription -n openshift-tempo-operator -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.metadata.name}: {.status.currentCSV} state={.status.state}{"\n"}{end}' 2>/dev/null || true

CRD and API availability check

# Missing CRDs cause many test failures
oc get crd | grep -E 'tempo|observability'
oc api-resources | grep tempo

Product Bug indicators

Classify as PRODUCT_BUG when the evidence shows the operator or operand itself misbehaved:

• Operator pod in CrashLoopBackOff or OOMKilled
• TempoStack or TempoMonolithic stuck in an error state not caused by the test YAML
• API object that the operator should have created is missing
• Image pull failure for an operand image referenced in the CSV
• CRD validation error rejecting a valid CR that worked in a prior release
• Timeout waiting for operator reconciliation when the operator logs show no activity
• Storage backend configuration rejected by the operator (object store credentials not mounted, unexpected bucket name format)

Test Issue indicators

Classify as TEST_ISSUE when the test itself is wrong or stale:

• Hardcoded version string or image tag in the test YAML that doesn't match the currently installed operator version
• Wrong namespace name in an assertion (namespace changed between releases)
• Race condition: the test asserts a resource state before the operator has had time to act — look for very short timeout values in chainsaw steps or missing wait blocks
• Missing prerequisite in the test setup (CRD that must be installed before the test runs but isn't part of the test's setup steps)
• Assertion checks a field or value that changed in the operator API (e.g., a renamed status condition on TempoStack)

Cluster Instability indicators

Before classifying as CLUSTER_INSTABILITY, rule out a tight operator reconciliation loop (which causes identical-looking API server pressure). Enable debug logging first:

CSV_NAME=$(oc get csv -n openshift-tempo-operator --no-headers \
  | awk '/tempo-operator/ && /Succeeded/ {print $1}' | head -1)

# Show current args to confirm --zap-log-level is present
oc get csv "${CSV_NAME}" -n openshift-tempo-operator \
  -o jsonpath='{range .spec.install.spec.deployments[0].spec.template.spec.containers[0].args[*]}{.}{"\n"}{end}'

# Find the 0-based index of --zap-log-level and replace its value with debug
ZAP_IDX=$(oc get csv "${CSV_NAME}" -n openshift-tempo-operator \
  -o jsonpath='{range .spec.install.spec.deployments[0].spec.template.spec.containers[0].args[*]}{.}{"\n"}{end}' \
  | awk '/--zap-log-level/{print NR-1; exit}')
if [[ -z "${ZAP_IDX}" ]]; then echo "ERROR: --zap-log-level not found in CSV args"; exit 1; fi
oc patch csv "${CSV_NAME}" -n openshift-tempo-operator --type=json \
  -p="[{\"op\":\"replace\",\"path\":\"/spec/install/spec/deployments/0/spec/template/spec/containers/0/args/${ZAP_IDX}\",\"value\":\"--zap-log-level=debug\"}]"

oc rollout status deploy/tempo-operator-controller -n openshift-tempo-operator --timeout=3m

# Let the operator run 2–3 minutes, then collect debug logs
oc logs -n openshift-tempo-operator deploy/tempo-operator-controller --tail=500 \
  | grep -E '"reconcileID"|"Reconciling"|"requeue"|"error"' \
  | head -100

Indicators of a reconciliation loop causing pressure:

• The same resource name appears in Reconciling log lines more than once every 2–3 seconds
• "requeue" entries at sub-second intervals with no intervening "Reconciling finished" or success message
• Queue depth growing over time; rate-limiting "Reconciler error" followed by rapid requeue

Indicators that the operator is healthy (no loop):

• Reconciling log lines appear infrequently (10+ seconds between repeated reconciles for the same object)
• No sub-second requeue entries; log volume is low and stable

If a reconciliation loop is found, reclassify as PRODUCT_BUG and write a bug report in Step 5b.

Classify as CLUSTER_INSTABILITY only when all four hold: (1) MCPs were updating at original test time (UPDATING=True/UPDATED=False) or the operator pod shows RESTARTS > 0 correlated with MCP rollout; (2) all reruns pass cleanly with shorter duration than the original; (3) no fixable test defect — if any timeout, version pin, or assertion would fail under normal scheduling pressure that is a TEST_ISSUE; (4) no tight reconciliation loop found above.

CLUSTER_INSTABILITY takes precedence over FLAKY when all four hold. Proceed to Step 5d.

When genuinely ambiguous, gather more cluster evidence before deciding. Explain your reasoning explicitly in the output.

Step 5a — If TEST_ISSUE: Fix and Export

Apply the minimal change to make the test correct. Avoid refactoring or improving unrelated parts of the test — a focused, small diff is easier to review and merge.

Edit chainsaw-test.yaml, assert.yaml, resource manifests, or other YAML files in the test folder. Common fixes: update image/version references, fix namespace, add a wait step before an assertion, correct a changed field name in assertions.

After editing, copy only the changed files to ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/test-fixes/ preserving the directory path relative to the repo root:

# Example: tests/e2e-openshift/tls-profile/chainsaw-test.yaml was fixed
dest="${ARTIFACT_DIR}/test-fixes/tests/e2e-openshift/tls-profile"
mkdir -p "${dest}"
cp tests/e2e-openshift/tls-profile/chainsaw-test.yaml "${dest}/"

Write a ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/test-fixes/CHANGES.md using this structure:

> **AI-Generated Content** — This analysis was produced by the OpenShift Observability QE Agent (Claude Code CLI). Always review AI-generated output prior to use.

# Test Fix Summary

## Failing test
<suite name> / <test case name>

## Root cause
<one paragraph explaining what was wrong in the test and why>

## Fix applied
<what was changed, which files, what specifically>

## Files changed
- `tests/e2e-openshift/<folder>/chainsaw-test.yaml`

## Verification
Rerun result after fix: [PASS / FAIL / not re-verified]

Step 5b — If PRODUCT_BUG: Write Bug Report

Do not attempt to fix the operator code. Instead, write ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/bug-report.md:

> **AI-Generated Content** — This analysis was produced by the OpenShift Observability QE Agent (Claude Code CLI). Always review AI-generated output prior to use.

# Product Bug Report

## Summary
<one-sentence description of the bug>

## Affected component
- Operator: Tempo Operator
- Namespace: openshift-tempo-operator
- Failing test: <suite / test case>

## Reproduction
1. <Step-by-step reproduction based on what the test does>

## Observed behavior
<What happened — include the exact failure message from JUnit>

## Expected behavior
<What should have happened>

## Evidence
### Operator logs
```text
<relevant log lines>
```

### Cluster events
```text
<relevant events>
```

### JUnit failure message
```text
<failure text from XML>
```

## Suggested severity
<Critical / Major / Minor — based on whether this blocks a release gate>

After writing bug-report.md, also write ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/jira-payload.json for automated Jira filing. Convert the bug report content to Jira wiki notation using these rules:

Write the JSON using jq for safe escaping:

_SUMMARY="[qe-agent] <one-sentence summary from the bug report>"
# Summary must be ≤ 255 characters
_SUMMARY="${_SUMMARY:0:255}"

_DESCRIPTION="<full bug report content converted to Jira wiki notation>"

jq -n \
  --arg summary "${_SUMMARY}" \
  --arg description "${_DESCRIPTION}" \
  --arg severity "<Critical / Major / Minor>" \
  '{summary: $summary, description: $description, severity: $severity}' \
  > "${ARTIFACT_DIR}/jira-payload.json"

The description must NOT contain raw credentials, tokens, passwords, or SHA-256 digests — redact with [REDACTED] if any appear in the evidence.

Step 5c — If FLAKY: Fix and Export

Apply the minimal change that eliminates the race or timing condition. Do not suppress flakiness with blanket retries — find and fix the root cause.

If a step asserts state immediately after a resource is applied, add an explicit wait step before the assertion. Example:

- name: Wait for TempoStack to be ready before asserting
  wait:
    apiVersion: tempo.grafana.com/v1alpha1
    kind: TempoStack
    name: tempo
    timeout: 5m
    for:
      condition:
        name: Ready
        value: "True"

Other common fixes: increase a timeout: 30s → 5m to give the operator time to reconcile a TempoStack (which involves creating many operand Deployments); reorder steps so storage secrets are created before the TempoStack CR.

After editing, copy changed files to ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/test-fixes/ (same structure as Step 5a). Write CHANGES.md with the pass/fail pattern from the 4 reruns as evidence.

Step 5d — If CLUSTER_INSTABILITY: Write Incident Note

Write ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/cluster-instability-report.md with: a one-sentence summary; a table of affected tests (suite / test case / original duration / rerun duration); root cause (MCP updates, node evictions, operator pod restarts/leader election loss — include the MCP status snapshot from Step 0a); evidence (MCP output, relevant pod events); and a recommendation to rerun the CI job. Begin the report with the following banner: > **AI-Generated Content** — This analysis was produced by the OpenShift Observability QE Agent (Claude Code CLI). Always review AI-generated output prior to use.

Step 6 — Write Analysis Summary

Write ${ARTIFACT_DIR}/qe-agent-analysis.md immediately after each test is diagnosed — do not wait until the end. Overwrite it after each subsequent test. Write partial entries for in-progress flakiness runs ("Rerun 1: PASS — confirmation in progress") and overwrite when complete.

Required sections: Failed Tests (table: suite / test case / JUnit file); Rerun Result (one line); Diagnosis (bold classification + 2–3 sentences citing specific evidence); Rerun Summary (5 rows: Original CI run + Reruns 1–4, each PASS / FAIL); Outcome (test fix path, bug report path, or rerun recommendation); Skill Improvement Recommendations (deviations from skill steps — None. if all worked as written); Evidence Sources (JUnit XML filename + failure line, operator logs namespace/deployment + excerpt, cluster state checks, test source file path + finding).

Begin the document with: > **AI-Generated Content** — This analysis was produced by the OpenShift Observability QE Agent (Claude Code CLI). Always review AI-generated output prior to use.

Notes for CI context

• The cluster is already provisioned and the Tempo operator is already installed — do not reinstall the operator
• The test repo is set up by Step 0b using commands from the fetched step script — the repo path is the destination shown in the script (e.g., /tmp/tempo-tests). The qe-agent runs in a fresh pod so /tmp/ is always empty at start; Step 0b populates it
• GOPATH: For Tempo stage and downstream tests, GOPATH=/tmp/go, GOBIN=/tmp/go/bin, GOCACHE=/tmp/.cache/go-build are set and make build is run during setup. Because each bash invocation starts a fresh shell, you must re-export GOPATH, GOBIN, GOCACHE, and PATH (with GOBIN prepended) at the start of any bash call in Steps 3–6 — without PATH updated, helper binaries compiled into /tmp/go/bin cannot be found by name
• $KUBECONFIG is set and points to the test cluster; oc, kubectl, and chainsaw are available in PATH
• All output files must go to $ARTIFACT_DIR (uploaded to GCS by the sidecar) or $SHARED_DIR (accessible to other steps)
• Namespace restriction: You MUST NOT access, read, list, or modify any resources in the kube-system namespace. This namespace contains cloud provider credentials and platform-critical components. Do not run oc get, oc describe, oc logs, kubectl, or any other command that targets kube-system. If a diagnostic command defaults to all namespaces (e.g., oc get pods -A), filter out kube-system from the output before analysis
• This step runs best_effort: true — always exit 0 even if analysis is incomplete