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---
name: debug-tend-run
description: Investigates a specific tend GitHub Actions run by downloading its session-log artifacts and parsing the JSONL traces. Surfaces which skill tend loaded, what tools it called with what inputs, files it read or wrote, and where decisions went wrong. Use when asked to "debug a tend run", "investigate a tend run", "why did tend do X", "what did the bot do in CI", "look at the session logs", or to reconstruct tend's behavior step-by-step from a run ID, URL, or PR number.
---
# Debug Tend Run
Investigate what tend did during a GitHub Actions run by downloading and
parsing its session log artifacts.
## Identify the run
If the user provides a run ID or URL, extract the numeric run ID. Otherwise,
list recent tend runs:
```bash
REPO=$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner --jq '.nameWithOwner')
gh run list -R "$REPO" --limit 20 \
--json databaseId,name,conclusion,createdAt,headBranch,event \
--jq '.[] | select(.name | startswith("tend-")) |
"\(.databaseId)\t\(.conclusion)\t\(.createdAt)\t\(.name)\t\(.headBranch)\t\(.event)"'
```
Narrow by branch (`--branch`), event type, or workflow name as needed. To find
the run associated with a specific PR:
```bash
PR_NUMBER=<number>
HEAD=$(gh pr view "$PR_NUMBER" -R "$REPO" --json headRefName --jq '.headRefName')
gh run list -R "$REPO" --branch "$HEAD" --limit 10 \
--json databaseId,name,conclusion,createdAt,event \
--jq '.[] | select(.name | startswith("tend-")) |
"\(.databaseId)\t\(.conclusion)\t\(.name)\t\(.event)"'
```
## Download session logs
Session logs are uploaded as artifacts named `claude-session-logs*` (the name
is set by `claude-code-action`, which tend wraps). Each artifact contains one
or more JSONL files — one per agent session in that run.
```bash
RUN_ID=<run-id>
gh run download "$RUN_ID" -R "$REPO" --pattern 'claude-session-logs*' --dir /tmp/session-logs/"$RUN_ID"/
```
If no artifacts exist, the run either had no agent session or the session was
too short to produce logs. Check the run's console output as a fallback:
```bash
gh run view "$RUN_ID" -R "$REPO" --log-failed
```
## Parse session logs
Each JSONL line has a `type` field. The main message types are `user` and
`assistant` (with `.message.content`). Other types (`system`, `progress`,
`queue-operation`, `last-prompt`) carry metadata — ignore them for most
debugging.
### Overview — what happened
Start with a high-level trace of the session:
```bash
FILE=/tmp/session-logs/$RUN_ID/<session>.jsonl
# Skills loaded
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_use" and .name == "Skill") |
.input.skill' "$FILE"
# Tool calls in order
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_use") |
"\(.name): \(.input | tostring | .[0:120])"' "$FILE"
# Assistant text (reasoning and responses)
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "text") | .text' "$FILE"
```
### Targeted queries
```bash
# What the bot was told (user messages including injected prompts)
jq -r 'select(.type == "user") |
.message.content | if type == "string" then . else
[.[]? | select(.type == "text") | .text] | join("\n") end' "$FILE"
# Bash commands executed
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_use" and .name == "Bash") |
.input.command' "$FILE"
# Tool results (what the bot saw back)
jq -r 'select(.type == "user") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_result") |
"\(.tool_use_id): \(.content | tostring | .[0:200])"' "$FILE"
# Files read
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_use" and .name == "Read") |
.input.file_path' "$FILE"
# Files written or edited
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_use" and (.name == "Write" or .name == "Edit")) |
"\(.name): \(.input.file_path)"' "$FILE"
# GitHub API calls (gh commands, including inside variable assignments)
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_use" and .name == "Bash") |
.input.command | select(test("\\bgh\\b"))' "$FILE"
```
### Searching for specific behavior
```bash
# Find where the bot mentioned a keyword
jq -r 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "text") | .text | select(test("KEYWORD"; "i"))' "$FILE"
# Find tool calls with specific input
jq -c 'select(.type == "assistant") | .message.content[]? |
select(.type == "tool_use") |
select(.input | tostring | test("KEYWORD"; "i"))' "$FILE"
```
## Diagnose the problem
After extracting the session trace, reconstruct the decision chain:
1. **What triggered the run?** Check the event type and triggering context
(PR comment, push, schedule).
2. **What did the bot see?** Look at system/user messages and tool results.
3. **What did it decide?** Follow assistant text for reasoning.
4. **Where did it go wrong?** Compare intended behavior against actual tool
calls and outputs.
Common failure modes:
- **Wrong skill loaded** (or skill not loaded) — check the Skill tool calls
- **Stale context** — bot acted on outdated PR state or missed recent commits
- **Tool error ignored** — a Bash command failed but the bot continued
- **Hallucinated file/function** — bot referenced something that doesn't exist
- **CI polling timeout** — bot ran out of time waiting for checks
## Cross-reference with PR state
For review runs, compare the bot's actions against the PR timeline:
```bash
PR_NUMBER=<number>
gh pr view "$PR_NUMBER" -R "$REPO" --json title,state,reviews,comments,commits \
--jq '{title, state, reviews: [.reviews[] | {author: .author.login, state: .state}],
comments: (.comments | length), commits: (.commits | length)}'
```
Check whether subsequent commits undid something the bot approved, or whether
human reviewers flagged issues the bot missed.