GitLab CI: triage failing jobs by failure_reason before touching code

TL;DR

Consequence jobs (skipped or canceled because upstream failed) need no fix. Sort each failing job into four buckets using its failure_reason.

Fix

1. Consequence jobs (skipped or canceled because upstream failed) need no fix. Expected: You get the expected result; the problem is gone.

When to use

• You are setting up or using this GitLab CI feature.
• The symptom matches: triage failing jobs by failure_reason before touching code.

When NOT to use

• Unrelated GitLab CI issues (different feature, different failure).
• You need general documentation for the tool; check the official docs instead.

Compatibility

Reported against GitLab CI. Source: https://github.com/p3bot/library/blob/HEAD/tasks/gitlab/pipeline/review/task.md.

Variant phrasings

triage failing jobs by failure_reason before touching code

Why it happens

A GitLab pipeline fails and you need to decide whether the failure is yours, infra, or an external verdict.

Edge cases

• If your error message differs even slightly, this is probably a different issue; search the exact text.
• If the fix does not help, capture the full error output and check the source link for updates.

Source

https://github.com/p3bot/library/blob/HEAD/tasks/gitlab/pipeline/review/task.md

Source: A GitLab pipeline fails and you need to decide whether the failure is yours, infra, or an external verdict.

Verified resolution: [field troubleshooting]: sort each failing job into four buckets using its failurereason. Infrastructure (runnersystemfailure, stuckortimeoutfailure, registry timeouts, cache or artifact upload errors) is not caused by the repo: retry the single job with glab ci retry and a job id. External service verdicts (SonarQube gate, license checks, SAST) win over the reason code: scanner jobs run the tool with || true so GitLab reports script_failure even though the script ran fine, judge by the job name and fetch the service's own findings. Consequence jobs (skipped or canceled because upstream failed) need no fix.

Source URL: https://github.com/p3bot/library/blob/HEAD/tasks/gitlab/pipeline/review/task.md