
debug
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Investigate stuck runs and execution failures by tracing Symphony and Codex
Investigate stuck runs and execution failures by tracing Symphony and Codex
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name: debug description: Investigate stuck runs and execution failures by tracing Symphony and Codex logs with issue/session identifiers; use when runs stall, retry repeatedly, or fail unexpectedly.
Debug
Goals
- Find why a run is stuck, retrying, or failing.
- Correlate Linear issue identity to a Codex session quickly.
- Read the right logs in the right order to isolate root cause.
Log Sources
- Primary runtime log:
log/symphony.log- Default comes from
SymphonyElixir.LogFile(log/symphony.log). - Includes orchestrator, agent runner, and Codex app-server lifecycle logs.
- Default comes from
- Rotated runtime logs:
log/symphony.log*- Check these when the relevant run is older.
Correlation Keys
issue_identifier: human ticket key (example:MT-625)issue_id: Linear UUID (stable internal ID)session_id: Codex thread-turn pair (<thread_id>-<turn_id>)
elixir/docs/logging.md requires these fields for issue/session lifecycle logs. Use
them as your join keys during debugging.
Quick Triage (Stuck Run)
- Confirm scheduler/worker symptoms for the ticket.
- Find recent lines for the ticket (
issue_identifierfirst). - Extract
session_idfrom matching lines. - Trace that
session_idacross start, stream, completion/failure, and stall handling logs. - Decide class of failure: timeout/stall, app-server startup failure, turn failure, or orchestrator retry loop.
Commands
# 1) Narrow by ticket key (fastest entry point)
rg -n "issue_identifier=MT-625" log/symphony.log*
# 2) If needed, narrow by Linear UUID
rg -n "issue_id=<linear-uuid>" log/symphony.log*
# 3) Pull session IDs seen for that ticket
rg -o "session_id=[^ ;]+" log/symphony.log* | sort -u
# 4) Trace one session end-to-end
rg -n "session_id=<thread>-<turn>" log/symphony.log*
# 5) Focus on stuck/retry signals
rg -n "Issue stalled|scheduling retry|turn_timeout|turn_failed|Codex session failed|Codex session ended with error" log/symphony.log*Investigation Flow
- Locate the ticket slice:
- Search by
issue_identifier=<KEY>. - If noise is high, add
issue_id=<UUID>.
- Search by
- Establish timeline:
- Identify first
Codex session started ... session_id=.... - Follow with
Codex session completed,ended with error, or worker exit lines.
- Identify first
- Classify the problem:
- Stall loop:
Issue stalled ... restarting with backoff. - App-server startup:
Codex session failed .... - Turn execution failure:
turn_failed,turn_cancelled,turn_timeout, orended with error. - Worker crash:
Agent task exited ... reason=....
- Stall loop:
- Validate scope:
- Check whether failures are isolated to one issue/session or repeating across multiple tickets.
- Capture evidence:
- Save key log lines with timestamps,
issue_identifier,issue_id, andsession_id. - Record probable root cause and the exact failing stage.
- Save key log lines with timestamps,
Reading Codex Session Logs
In Symphony, Codex session diagnostics are emitted into log/symphony.log and
keyed by session_id. Read them as a lifecycle:
Codex session started ... session_id=...- Session stream/lifecycle events for the same
session_id - Terminal event:
Codex session completed ..., orCodex session ended with error ..., orIssue stalled ... restarting with backoff
For one specific session investigation, keep the trace narrow:
- Capture one
session_idfor the ticket. - Build a timestamped slice for only that session:
rg -n "session_id=<thread>-<turn>" log/symphony.log*
- Mark the exact failing stage:
- Startup failure before stream events (
Codex session failed ...). - Turn/runtime failure after stream events (
turn_*/ended with error). - Stall recovery (
Issue stalled ... restarting with backoff).
- Startup failure before stream events (
- Pair findings with
issue_identifierandissue_idfrom nearby lines to confirm you are not mixing concurrent retries.
Always pair session findings with issue_identifier/issue_id to avoid mixing
concurrent runs.
Notes
- Prefer
rgovergrepfor speed on large logs. - Check rotated logs (
log/symphony.log*) before concluding data is missing. - If required context fields are missing in new log statements, align with
elixir/docs/logging.mdconventions.
npx skills add https://github.com/openai/symphony --skill debugRun this in your project — your agent picks the skill up automatically.
No common issues documented yet. If you hit a problem, the repository's GitHub Issues page is the best place to look.