CI Health Check

CI/CD Health Check Runbook

Overview

This runbook provides procedures for checking the health of CI/CD pipelines running on GitHub Actions. Use this runbook to:

• Check status of workflow runs
• Troubleshoot failing checks
• Re-run failed workflows
• Analyze logs and diagnose issues

Expected duration: 5-10 minutes for status check; additional time for troubleshooting

Prerequisites

Required Tools

• gh CLI (GitHub CLI) - installed and authenticated
• git command line tool
• Terminal access

Required Access

• Read access to the repository
• For fixing issues: Write access to create branches and PRs

Pre-Flight Checklist

Before starting, ensure:

• You have gh CLI installed (gh --version)
• You are authenticated (gh auth status)
• You are in the project directory

Procedure

Step 1: Check Overall CI/CD Status

Purpose: Get a quick overview of all workflow runs

Commands:

# Check status of recent workflow runs
gh run list --limit 10

# Check status for a specific branch
gh run list --branch main --limit 10

# Check status for current PR (if in a branch)
gh run list --branch $(git branch --show-current) --limit 5

Validation:

• Output shows list of workflow runs with status (✓ completed, ✗ failed, * in_progress)
• Recent runs should show "completed" status

If step fails:

• Verify gh CLI is authenticated: gh auth status
• Ensure you're in a git repository: git status
• Check network connectivity

Step 2: View Details of Failed Runs

Purpose: Identify which specific jobs failed in a workflow run

Commands:

# View the most recent failed run
gh run view $(gh run list --status failure --limit 1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId')

# View a specific run by ID
gh run view <RUN_ID>

# Watch a run in progress
gh run watch

Validation:

• Output shows which jobs passed/failed
• Failed jobs are clearly marked
• Run URL is displayed for browser viewing

If step fails:

• If no runs found, check: gh run list --limit 20
• Run may have been deleted or archived

Step 3: View Logs for Failed Jobs

Purpose: Get detailed logs to understand why a job failed

Commands:

# View logs for the most recent failed run
gh run view $(gh run list --status failure --limit 1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId') --log

# View logs for a specific failed job
gh run view <RUN_ID> --log-failed

# Download all logs for offline analysis
gh run download <RUN_ID> --dir ./ci-logs

Validation:

• Logs show error messages and stack traces
• You can identify the specific step that failed
• Error context is visible

If step fails:

• Logs may be too large for terminal display
• Use --log > output.log to save to file
• Use GitHub web UI as fallback

Step 4: Check Specific Workflow Status

Purpose: Focus on a specific workflow (Test or Lint)

Commands:

# List runs for test workflow
gh run list --workflow=ci.yml --limit 10

# List runs for lint workflow
gh run list --workflow=lint.yml --limit 10

# View status of both workflows for current branch
gh run list --workflow=ci.yml --branch $(git branch --show-current)
gh run list --workflow=lint.yml --branch $(git branch --show-current)

Validation:

• Shows runs specific to the workflow
• Can identify if one workflow is consistently failing
• Can compare success rates between workflows

If step fails:

• Verify workflow file names: ls .github/workflows/
• Workflow may not have run yet on current branch

Step 5: Re-run Failed Workflows

Purpose: Retry failed workflows after fixing issues or if failure was transient

Commands:

# Re-run the most recent failed workflow
gh run rerun $(gh run list --status failure --limit 1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId')

# Re-run only failed jobs
gh run rerun $(gh run list --status failure --limit 1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId') --failed

# Watch the re-run
gh run watch

Validation:

• Command confirms re-run started
• New run appears in gh run list
• Can watch progress with gh run watch

If step fails:

• May not have permissions to re-run
• Workflow may be too old (>30 days)
• Try from GitHub web UI

Validation

After completing all steps, verify:

1. Overall Health:

   gh run list --limit 5
   

   Expected result: Recent runs show ✓ (completed) status

2. Both Workflows Passing:

   gh run list --workflow=ci.yml --status success --limit 1
   gh run list --workflow=lint.yml --status success --limit 1
   

   Expected result: Both workflows have recent successful runs

3. Current Branch Status:

   gh run list --branch $(git branch --show-current)
   

   Expected result: Latest runs on current branch are successful

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue 1: Test Workflow Failing - Installation Tests

Symptoms:

• Test workflow shows failure
• Error in "Run test suite" step
• Message about installation failure

Resolution:

# View the specific test failure
gh run view --log-failed

# Run tests locally to reproduce
npm test

# Common fixes:
# 1. Check if TypeScript compilation works
npm run build

# 2. Verify all test files are valid
npm test -- --reporter spec

Issue 2: ShellCheck Failures

Symptoms:

• Lint workflow fails at "ShellCheck" step
• Output shows shell script warnings/errors
• Specific scripts in ./scripts or ./test have issues

Resolution:

# View the specific shellcheck errors
gh run view --log-failed | grep -A 5 "ShellCheck"

# Install shellcheck (see Contributing Guide for other platforms)
brew install shellcheck  # macOS

# Run shellcheck locally
shellcheck ./scripts/*.sh ./test/*.sh

# Fix common issues:
# - Quote variables: "$var" instead of $var
# - Check for undefined variables
# - Fix array handling
# - Address exit code handling

# See Contributing Guide for detailed setup and troubleshooting

Issue 3: Markdown Lint Failures

Symptoms:

• Lint workflow fails at "Markdown Lint" step
• Markdown formatting issues in *.md files

Resolution:

# View the specific markdown errors
gh run view --log-failed | grep -A 10 "Markdown Lint"

# Install project dependencies (includes markdownlint-cli2)
npm install

# Run markdown lint locally
npx markdownlint-cli2 "**/*.md" "!node_modules"

# Common fixes:
# - Fix line length (MD013) - keep lines under 80 characters
# - Add blank lines around headers and lists (MD022, MD031, MD032)
# - Fix trailing spaces (MD009)
# - Consistent list styling (MD004, MD007)
# - Add language specifiers to code blocks (MD040)

# See Contributing Guide for more details on fixing markdown issues

Issue 4: Matrix Build Failures (Ubuntu vs macOS)

Symptoms:

• Test workflow fails on one OS but not the other
• Usually Ubuntu succeeds, macOS fails (or vice versa)

Resolution:

# View logs for specific OS
gh run view <RUN_ID> --log | grep -A 20 "Test on macos-latest"
gh run view <RUN_ID> --log | grep -A 20 "Test on ubuntu-latest"

# Common issues:
# - Path differences (/tmp vs /private/tmp on macOS)
# - Command availability (brew vs apt)
# - File permission differences
# - Line ending differences (CRLF vs LF)

# Test locally on both platforms if possible:
npm test
npm run build

Issue 5: Workflow Not Running

Symptoms:

• No workflow runs appear for recent commits
• PR doesn't show CI/CD checks

Resolution:

# Check workflow configuration
cat .github/workflows/ci.yml | grep -A 5 "on:"
cat .github/workflows/lint.yml | grep -A 5 "on:"

# Verify branch is configured to trigger workflows
gh run list --branch $(git branch --show-current) --limit 5

# Common causes:
# - Branch not pushed to remote: git push origin $(git branch --show-current)
# - Workflow only runs on main/specific branches
# - Workflow file has syntax errors
# - Repository settings disabled Actions

When to Escalate

Escalate if:

• Workflows consistently fail across all branches
• Infrastructure issues (GitHub Actions down)
• Permissions issues preventing access to logs
• Repeated transient failures
• Security scanning alerts

Escalation Contact:

• Check GitHub status: https://www.githubstatus.com/
• Repository maintainer
• DevOps team lead

Post-Procedure

After completion:

• Document any recurring issues encountered
• Update this runbook if new failure patterns emerge
• File issues for systematic problems
• Update workflow files if improvements identified

Quick Reference

Most Useful Commands

# Quick health check
gh run list --limit 5

# View latest failure
gh run view $(gh run list --status failure --limit 1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId') --log-failed

# Re-run failed jobs
gh run rerun $(gh run list --status failure --limit 1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId') --failed

# Watch current run
gh run watch

# Test locally (see Contributing Guide for setup)
./test/test-install.sh
shellcheck ./scripts/*.sh ./test/*.sh
npx markdownlint-cli2 "**/*.md"

Notes

Important Notes:

• Always check logs before re-running - transient failures are rare
• Matrix builds can have OS-specific issues
• ShellCheck severity is set to "warning" - all warnings must be fixed
• Markdown linting is strict - follow conventions consistently

Gotchas:

• macOS test failures often relate to /tmp vs /private/tmp paths
• Workflow runs older than 30 days cannot be re-run
• Log downloads create nested directories by job name

Related Procedures:

• Contributing Guide - for development workflow and local checks

Revision History

Converted and distributed by TomeVault — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.