CI/CD Failure Diagnostician

Purpose: Diagnose a failed CI/CD pipeline from raw logs. Takes a GitHub Actions, CircleCI, GitLab CI, or any other CI log output. Returns: failure category, root cause explanation in plain English, exact fix (command, code change, or env var), and whether it looks like a flaky test. Turns 20 minutes of log-reading into 20 seconds.

Invocation

code

/ci-fix <paste-log-output>

Or: /ci-fix then paste the log when prompted.

Failure Categories

Classify the failure into exactly one category:

Category	Indicators
Test failure	`FAIL`, `AssertionError`, `expect(x).toBe(y)`, test name in output
Build error	TypeScript error, compilation failure, syntax error
Lint error	ESLint, Prettier, Ruff, golangci-lint rule violation
Missing env var	`undefined`, `Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'env')`, `process.env.X is not defined`
Dependency install failure	`npm ERR!`, `pip install failed`, `Cannot find module`
Permission error	`EACCES`, `403 Forbidden`, `permission denied`
Timeout	Job exceeded `N` minutes, `ETIMEDOUT`, hanging process
Out of memory	`ENOMEM`, `JavaScript heap out of memory`, OOM killed
Network error	DNS resolution failed, connection refused, rate limited
Flaky test	Timing assertions, random/date-dependent values, race conditions

Diagnosis Process

Step 1: Find the Failure Point

Scan the log for the FIRST error line — most CI logs dump a long stack trace but the real error is near the top of the first ERROR block.

Common patterns to scan for:

code

✗ FAILED
Error: ...
× ...
FAILED: ...
error[...]: ...
exit code: 1 (immediately after the relevant command)

Step 2: Explain in Plain English

One paragraph: what failed, why it failed, and what the system was trying to do when it failed. No jargon that isn't in the original log.

Step 3: Provide the Fix

The fix must be one of:

A command to run (with the exact command, ready to copy-paste)
A code change (file:line, old code, new code)
An env var to add (variable name + where to add it)
A CI config change (which job/step to modify and how)

Step 4: Flaky Test Detection

Flag as possibly flaky if the failure involves:

setTimeout / sleep / date-based assertions without mocking
Race conditions (async test with no proper await)
External service calls in unit tests
File system state left from a previous test
Random or time-dependent data generation

If flaky: suggest --retry=3 as a short-term bandage + the proper fix (mock the external dependency).

Output Format

code

## CI Failure Diagnosis

**Job:** [job name from log]
**Step:** [step that failed]
**Category:** [one of the 10 categories above]

---

### Root Cause

[Plain-English explanation, 2-4 sentences]

---

### Fix

[Exact command OR code change OR env var to add]

```bash
# Run this locally to reproduce and verify the fix:
[reproduction command]

Flaky Test?

[Yes / No / Possibly — with brief reason]

Prevention

[One-line suggestion to prevent this class of failure in the future]

code


---

## Rules

- Always find the FIRST error line, not the last — stack traces cascade from the origin
- Never say "the issue is complex" — give a specific diagnosis even if uncertain (flag uncertainty)
- If `Missing env var`: specify the exact variable name found in the log, not a guess
- If flaky: never just say "add a retry" — explain the actual race condition or timing issue
- If you cannot determine the cause: output "Inconclusive — please provide more log context" with specific questions about what's missing

CI/CD Failure Diagnostician

CI/CD Failure Diagnostician

Invocation

Failure Categories

Diagnosis Process

Step 1: Find the Failure Point

Step 2: Explain in Plain English

Step 3: Provide the Fix

Step 4: Flaky Test Detection

Output Format

Flaky Test?

Prevention

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