anomaly forecasting failed with "RuntimeError: Error during optimization: BFGS failed"

TL;DR

Fix this in the anomaly detector by acting on the exact message first: reduce changepoint flexibility, set seasonality mode explicitly, scale y for large metrics, and retry fitting with a longer max iterations setting. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one item, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.

RuntimeError: Error during optimization: BFGS failed

Use this when

• The operation in the anomaly detector fails with this exact message: RuntimeError: Error during optimization: BFGS failed.
• The same failure repeats on retry with unchanged inputs.
• A review, export or check is blocked until this item completes.

Not for this skill when

• The message is a permission or outage notice from the platform. Resolve that first, then return here if this error remains.
• The operation completes and you only disagree with its output. That is a quality review, not this failure.

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure with the smallest scope that still shows it in the anomaly detector, and copy the full message plus the item, user or metric involved into the run notes. Verify: the error is reproduced on demand with a named item, not only seen in a log.
2. Apply the specific fix for this error: reduce changepoint flexibility, set seasonality mode explicitly, scale y for large metrics, and retry fitting with a longer max iterations setting. Verify: refit on the last 90 days and confirm the fit finishes and produces a forecast frame.
3. Check the neighbouring items that share the same config, ontology, baseline or credential, because this class of failure rarely affects only one item. Verify: the neighbouring items are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Compare the result counts, decisions or alerts against the source in the anomaly detector so a silent partial success is caught before sign off. Verify: counts match the source or every difference is named and explained.
5. Rerun the original operation in the anomaly detector on the previously failing scope, watching for the same message rather than assuming success from a quiet log. Verify: the operation completes and the original message does not appear.
6. Record the fix, the triggering input and the verification result on the item so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the error, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

Why it happens

Prophet fitting is an optimisation problem; noisy short series, unscaled large values and too many changepoints make the optimiser fail to find a stable start.

Variant phrasings

RuntimeError: Error during optimization: BFGS failed

The verbatim form searchers paste from the terminal or console. Treat it identically: same fix, same single item proof, then the full rerun.

How to fix: anomaly forecasting failed with "RuntimeError: Error during optimizati

The how-to phrasing for the same failure in the anomaly detector. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the rerun.

the anomaly detector troubleshooting for this failure

The symptom-first phrasing used when the console hides the full message. Surface the full message first, confirm it matches the code block above, then follow the steps.

Compatibility: the anomaly detector at current versions, plus the platform API or console the query names; no extra tooling beyond a text editor and the source system access needed to verify counts.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstOLKmgIWT-8SFBKZPID5qQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstOLKmgIWT-8SFBKZPID5qQ

Thread query: anomaly forecasting failed with "RuntimeError: Error during optimization: BFGS failed"

TL;DR: Fix this in the anomaly detector by acting on the exact message first: reduce changepoint flexibility, set seasonality mode explicitly, scale y for large metrics, and retry fitting with a longer max iterations setting. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one item, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.