Skip to content

Find out why a workflow failed

How-to7 minPractitioner

Before you start

Use the run debugger to see what a workflowWorkflowAn automation: trigger plus steps, run per module; also called "flow" on the home page.Open glossary ↗ did on each run, and where it stopped when it failed. Every run keeps a log of its steps, with how long each took and what it said.

Open the runs

Section titled “Open the runs”
  1. Open Automation for the module.
  2. On the workflow’s line, click Runs. It is ready once the workflow has run.
  3. Click Failed at the top of the panel.
  4. Click a run in the list.
The run debugger for a workflow: status filters across the top, four number tiles and a runs-per-day chart, a list of runs on the left, and the selected run on the right with its steps drawn as a timeline.
    All, Failed, Running and Never finished, each with its count.
    Search by PID, record ID or error text.
    Why runs fail groups the failures by step and message.
    Newest runs first. A failed run shows its error in red.
    Steps and Details tabs. A webhook run adds Payload.
    Each step is a bar on a timeline, with how long it took.

The panel opens over the list. Press Esc to go back. The address holds the workflow and the run, so you can share a link to one run.

What do the statuses mean?

Section titled “What do the statuses mean?”
StatusMeaning
CompletedThe run ended without an error
FailedA step failed and stopped the run
RunningThe run started less than an hour ago and has not ended
Never finishedThe run started, and nothing recorded its end after 1 hour

A Never finished run was started but not closed, usually because the server restarted in the middle of it. Run the work again if it matters.

How do I find the step that failed?

Section titled “How do I find the step that failed?”

The right side of the panel shows the selected run. A red box at the top says “Failed at” and the step’s name, the message, how long the step took and how far into the run it started. Below it, the Steps tab shows every step as a bar. Failed steps are red.

  • Click a step to read its message. The copy button beside it copies the text.
  • A step inside a loop shows its iterations, for example “1 iteration”. Click the arrow to fold the steps inside.
  • A step marked “Marked failed because a step inside it failed” is only passing the failure up. Look for the red step beneath it.
  • A Decision step’s message lists the conditions it checked and which path it took.
  • Details gives the PID, start and end times, the final message and who started the run. A run started by the clock, a webhook or the system shows System.

Press J for the next failure and K for the previous one, or click the arrows beside the run’s title. Click Open in designer at the top to go to the workflow and fix the step.

How do I find out whether many runs fail for one reason?

Section titled “How do I find out whether many runs fail for one reason?”

Click Why runs fail. Beezr groups the failures in the current filter by step and message, with a bar for how many each had. Click a group to filter the list to those runs. The tag above the list shows the filter, and its × clears it.

If a note says “Based on the latest N failures of M”, the groups come from a sample of the newest failures, not all of them.

How do I narrow the list?

Section titled “How do I narrow the list?”
  • The period menu offers Today, Last 7 days, Last 30 days (the default), All time and Custom range….
  • The search box matches a PID, a record ID or text in the error. Search a webhook’s PID to find the run behind one call.
  • Load more adds 50 runs to the list. Refresh reads the runs again.

The four tiles show Runs, Failed with its share, Duration as a median with the time 95% of runs beat, and Never finished. The chart shows runs per day, with failures in red.

Check yourself

A run shows Never finished. What does that mean?
Show the answer

The run started and nothing recorded its end within an hour. A run that is still open after an hour is shown as Never finished. It usually means the server restarted in the middle of it. No steps were saved.

Sara sees 25 failed runs of a workflow and wants to know whether they share one cause. Where does she click?
Show the answer

Why runs fail. Why runs fail groups the failures by step and message. Clicking a group filters the run list to it.

What's next

Start a workflow from another system with a webhookGive a workflow a web address that another system can call, protect it with an API key, read the data it sends, and get the result posted back.Lists, loops and data in a workflowHow a workflow holds the record that started it and named lists of other records, how steps read them, and how a Loop goes through a list.

Last checked