🏥 Safe Output Health Report - 2026-01-01

[github-actions[bot]]

Executive Summary

Period: Last 24 hours (2026-01-01)

• Runs Analyzed: 37
• Safe Output Jobs Executed: 37
• Safe Output Jobs Failed: 10
• Safe Output Jobs Successful: 27
• Overall Success Rate: 73%
• Error Clusters Identified: 3

📊 Safe Output Job Statistics

Workflow	Total Executions	Failures	Success Rate	Primary Issue
Tidy	7	7	0%	Artifact not found
Q	2	2	0%	Git push failure + API error
Smoke Copilot	10	0	100%	None
CI Optimization Coach	1	1	0%	Git push failure
Other workflows	17	0	100%	None

🔴 Error Clusters

Cluster 1: Artifact Not Found (7 occurrences)

Severity: Medium
Affected Workflows: Tidy
Affected Runs: §20647163761, §20646564905, §20645269202, §20647094115, §20645868158, §20645516728, §20645741460

Sample Error:

##[error]Unable to download artifact(s): Artifact not found for name: aw.patch

Root Cause: The Tidy workflow agent job is not producing the aw.patch artifact that the safe output job expects to create a pull request. This could be because:

• Agent job did not make any changes requiring a PR
• Agent job failed before artifact upload
• Artifact upload step is missing or misconfigured
• Artifact expired (unlikely for same-day runs)

Impact: The create_pull_request safe output handler cannot create a PR without the patch file, causing the safe output job to fail.

---

Cluster 2: Git Push Failure (3 occurrences)

Severity: High
Affected Workflows: Q, CI Optimization Coach
Affected Runs: §20647043140, §20646646383, §20646567298

Sample Error:

error: failed to push some refs to 'https://github.com/githubnext/gh-aw.git'
##[error]Git push failed: The process '/usr/bin/git' failed with exit code 1
##[warning]Git push operation failed - creating fallback issue instead of pull request

Root Cause: Git push operations are failing when the safe output job attempts to push changes to the repository. Possible causes:

• Branch protection rules blocking direct pushes
• Race condition with concurrent pushes to the same branch
• Authentication or permission issues
• Branch conflicts requiring merge/rebase
• Non-fast-forward push attempt

Impact: The push_to_pull_request_branch safe output handler fails. The workflow does have a fallback mechanism to create an issue instead, which is good defensive design.

---

Cluster 3: Add Comment API Failure (1 occurrence)

Severity: Medium
Affected Workflows: Q
Affected Runs: §20646646383

Sample Error:

##[error]Failed to add comment: Not Found

Root Cause: GitHub API returned 404 Not Found when the safe output job attempted to add a comment. This suggests:

• The target issue/PR was deleted before the safe output job ran
• Insufficient permissions to access the resource
• Invalid issue/PR number provided
• Repository was made private or deleted

Impact: The add_comment safe output handler fails, and users do not receive workflow output comments.

---

🎯 Root Cause Analysis

Artifact-Related Issues (70% of failures)

The majority of failures (7 out of 10) stem from missing artifacts. This is a workflow configuration issue rather than a safe output job bug. The Tidy workflow needs to be reviewed to ensure:

1. The agent produces patches when changes are made
2. Artifacts are uploaded before job completion
3. Conditional logic exists to skip PR creation when no changes are made

Git Operation Issues (30% of failures)

Git push failures indicate infrastructure or permissions problems:

1. Branch protection rules may be too restrictive
2. Concurrent workflow runs may be creating race conditions
3. Error handling and retry logic may be insufficient

API Error Issues (10% of failures)

The single API error suggests rare edge cases where resources become unavailable between agent execution and safe output execution.

---

💡 Recommendations

🔴 Critical Issues (Immediate Action Required)

1. Fix Tidy Workflow Artifact Missing Issue

Priority: High
Work Estimate: Medium

Problem: 7 Tidy workflow runs (100% of Tidy runs) failed because the safe output job could not download the 'aw.patch' artifact.

Recommended Actions:

• Review Tidy workflow .md file for artifact upload configuration
• Check agent job logs in affected runs to verify if patch generation was attempted
• Add debug logging to show when patch artifact should be created
• Consider adding conditional safe output logic to skip PR creation if no patch exists
• Ensure artifact upload happens even when agent encounters errors

Technical Approach:

# In Tidy workflow, ensure artifact upload happens:
- name: Upload patch artifact
  if: always()  # Upload even on failure
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: aw.patch
    path: /tmp/gh-aw/agent/changes.patch
    if-no-files-found: warn  # Don't fail if no changes

---

2. Investigate and Fix Git Push Failures

Priority: High
Work Estimate: Large

Problem: 3 workflow runs failed to push changes to the repository.

Recommended Actions:

• Check branch protection rules - are direct pushes allowed for the GitHub Actions bot?
• Implement git fetch/pull before push to handle potential conflicts
• Add exponential backoff retry logic for transient push failures
• Log detailed git error output for debugging (including remote rejection messages)
• Consider using git push --force-with-lease for safer overwrites when appropriate
• Add pre-push validation to check if remote branch has new commits

Technical Approach:

# Implement retry logic with conflict resolution:
for i in {1..3}; do
  git fetch origin
  git rebase origin/main || git merge origin/main
  if git push origin HEAD; then
    echo "Push succeeded"
    exit 0
  fi
  echo "Push failed, attempt $i/3"
  sleep $((i * 2))
done

---

🟡 Medium Priority Issues

3. Improve Add Comment Error Handling

Priority: Medium
Work Estimate: Small

Problem: 1 workflow run failed to add a comment with 'Not Found' error.

Recommended Actions:

• Add validation to check if issue/PR exists before attempting to add comment
• Log issue/PR number and current status for debugging
• Implement fallback behavior (e.g., create new issue) if target doesn't exist
• Improve error messages to show which resource was not found

Technical Approach:

// Validate resource exists before commenting:
try {
  const { data: issue } = await github.rest.issues.get({
    owner, repo, issue_number
  });
  // Proceed with comment
} catch (error) {
  if (error.status === 404) {
    console.log(`Issue #${issue_number} not found, skipping comment`);
    return;  // Graceful degradation
  }
  throw error;
}

---

4. Add Automated Safe Output Health Monitoring

Priority: Medium
Work Estimate: Small (this workflow exists!)

Problem: No automated, continuous monitoring of safe output job health.

Recommended Actions:

• Create daily automated health reports (this workflow!)
• Set up alerts for safe output failure rate > 10%
• Track historical trends in cache memory
• Create dashboard or status page for safe output health metrics
• Add Slack/email notifications for critical failures

---

🟢 Low Priority Issues

5. Improve Safe Output Error Messages

Priority: Low
Work Estimate: Small

Problem: Generic error messages make debugging difficult.

Recommended Actions:

• Add workflow context to all error messages (workflow name, run ID, etc.)
• Include run URL in error output for easy navigation
• Log safe output handler configuration for debugging
• Add timestamps to all error messages
• Include agent output summary in error context

---

📈 Historical Context

Note: This is the first safe output health audit. No historical data available for trend analysis.

Future Audits: Subsequent reports will include:

• Week-over-week trend analysis
• Failure rate trends by error type
• MTTR (Mean Time To Resolution) for known issues
• Recurring vs. one-time failures

---

🎬 Next Steps

1. Immediate (Today):

   • Investigate Tidy workflow artifact configuration
   • Review git push failures in detail using workflow run logs

2. Short-term (This Week):

   • Fix Tidy workflow artifact upload
   • Implement git push retry logic
   • Add comment validation

3. Medium-term (This Month):

   • Set up automated alerting for safe output failures
   • Create historical trend dashboard
   • Improve error messages across all safe output handlers

---

References:

• §20647163761
• §20646646383
• §20647043140

AI generated by Safe Output Health Monitor