Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis

Investigate failed jobs by correlating Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) job logs with Splunk OCP pod logs and analyzing AgnosticD/AgnosticV configuration to identify root causes.

Automatic Execution

When a user asks to analyze a failed job, execute these steps automatically. The skill's base path is provided when this skill is invoked. Run scripts relative to this folder.

Setup (run once per session if .venv doesn't exist)

# Create virtual environment and install dependencies
python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -q -r requirements.txt

Step 1-3: Run the analysis CLI

# Option 1: By job ID (searches JOB_LOGS_DIR automatically)
.venv/bin/python scripts/cli.py analyze --job-id 

# Option 2: By explicit path
.venv/bin/python scripts/cli.py analyze --job-log 

The skill automatically searches for job logs in the configured JOB_LOGS_DIR (set in .env).

Step 4: Fetch GitHub Data (Automated)

# Fetch all GitHub files automatically via GitHub API
.venv/bin/python scripts/step4_fetch_github.py --job-id 

This script automatically parses job metadata, fetches AgnosticV configs and AgnosticD workload code, and reports success/404 status.

Output: .analysis//step4_github_fetch_history.json

MANDATORY: GitHub MCP Tools for 404 Verification:

• ALWAYS check 404 files via MCP server when step4 reports "error": "all_paths_failed" or any "status": "404" in paths_tried
• DO NOT skip 404 verification - the script may have incorrect path parsing
• Process:

1. Check parent directory first using mcp__github__get_file_contents to list actual folder/file names (reveals case sensitivity, hyphens vs underscores)
2. If parent check fails, use mcp__github__search_code to locate files by filename or partial path
3. Document findings: wrong format → parser bug, missing → truly missing, empty → rare
4. No assumptions: "empty", "test", "demo" in names are just labels - always verify 404s

Step 5: Analyze and Generate Summary

Read outputs from .analysis// and perform root cause analysis. See Step 5 section below for detailed requirements.

Manual Usage

From this skill's directory:

# Setup virtual environment (one time)
python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

# Analyze by job ID (uses JOB_LOGS_DIR to find the file)
.venv/bin/python scripts/cli.py analyze --job-id 1234567

# Or analyze with explicit path
.venv/bin/python scripts/cli.py analyze --job-log /path/to/job_123.json.gz

Configuration

IMPORTANT: All credentials (GitHub token and Splunk credentials) should be set in .claude/settings.json (project-level) or ~/.claude/settings.json (global), NOT in .env files.

Add the following environment variables to your Claude Code settings file:

Project-level: .claude/settings.local.json in your project root Or global: ~/.claude/settings.json

{
  "env": {
    "JOB_LOGS_DIR": "/path/to/your/extracted_logs",
    "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-github-token",
    "SPLUNK_HOST": "host-url",
    "SPLUNK_USERNAME": "your-username",
    "SPLUNK_PASSWORD": "your-password",
    "SPLUNK_INDEX": "your_aap_index",
    "SPLUNK_OCP_APP_INDEX": "your_ocp_app_index",
    "SPLUNK_OCP_INFRA_INDEX": "your_ocp_infra_index",
    "SPLUNK_VERIFY_SSL": "false"
  }
}

---

Steps 1-3: Automated Analysis (Python Scripts)

Step 1: Parse job log → Extract job ID, GUID, namespace, failed tasks, time window Step 2: Query Splunk → Fetch pod logs from namespace within job time window Step 3: Correlate → Merge AAP and Splunk events into unified timeline

Outputs: .analysis//step1_job_context.json, step2_splunk_logs.json, step3_correlation.json

---

Step 4: Fetch GitHub Files (Automated)

Script step4_fetch_github.py automatically parses job metadata, fetches AgnosticV configs and AgnosticD workload code, and reports success/404 status.

Output: .analysis//step4_github_fetch_history.json

GitHub MCP Verification for 404 Errors:

When step4 reports "error": "all_paths_failed" or any "status": "404" in paths_tried, you MUST verify using MCP tools:

1. If parent check fails: Use mcp__github__search_code to locate files by filename or partial path. Use mcp__github__search_repositories only if task_path parsing failed.

1. No assumptions: "empty", "test", "demo" in names are just labels - always verify 404s before concluding files are missing.

---

Step 5: Analyze and Generate Summary (your task)

Input: Read the following files in order (optimized to avoid redundancy):

1. REQUIRED: step1_job_context.json - Job metadata and failed task details
2. REQUIRED: step3_correlation.json - Correlated timeline with relevant pod logs (DO NOT read step2 unless needed)
3. REQUIRED: step4_github_fetch_history.json - Configuration and code context
4. CONDITIONAL: step2_splunk_logs.json - Only read if step3 indicates errors needing deeper investigation

Output: .analysis//step5_analysis_summary.json (optional, or present directly to user)

Analysis Guidelines

Configuration Analysis:

• Variable precedence: Role defaults → common.yaml → {platform}/account.yaml → {platform}/{catalog_item}/{env}.yaml (later overrides earlier)
• Check for conflicts, missing variables, secrets references (includes/secrets, !vault)

Task Analysis:

• Task action patterns: kubernetes.core.k8s_info (RBAC/resource), ansible.builtin.uri (network/auth), command/shell (paths/permissions)
• Duration: 300s (long retry/timeout)
• Time correlation: Pod error before/during/after task indicates infrastructure vs task-triggered issue
• Conditional execution: Check if when: conditions executed incorrectly (variable precedence issue)

Summary Requirements

1. Job Details: ID, status, GUID, namespace, platform, catalog, environment
2. Failed Tasks: PRESERVE ALL FIELDS from step1 (task, play, role, taskaction, errormessage, duration, timestamp, location with both original path and GitHub path)
3. Configuration Analysis: Which configs found, variable precedence, missing vars, secrets
4. Correlation: How AAP logs link to Splunk (GUID, namespace, timestamps, pod names)
5. Root Cause: Category (configuration|infrastructure|workload_bug|credential|resource|dependency), summary, confidence, evidence
6. Recommendations: Specific file changes with paths, actions, and reasons

Schema

See schemas/summary.schema.json for complete structure. Example:

{
  "job_id": "{job_id}",
  "job_metadata": {
    "platform": "{platform}",
    "catalog_item": "{catalog_item}",
    "environment": "{env}",
    "guid": "{guid}"
  },
  "failed_tasks": [
    {
      "task": "Get caller identity",
      "play": "Destroy playbook",
      "role": "infra-aws-dry-run",
      "task_action": "command",
      "error_message": "'aws_access_key_id' is undefined",
      "duration": 0.008,
      "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:45Z",
      "location": {
        "original_path": "/runner/project/ansible/roles-infra/infra-aws-dry-run/tasks/ec2.yml:2",
        "repository": "redhat-cop/agnosticd",
        "file_path": "ansible/roles-infra/infra-aws-dry-run/tasks/ec2.yml",
        "line_number": 2,
        "github_path": "redhat-cop/agnosticd:ansible/roles-infra/infra-aws-dry-run/tasks/ec2.yml:2"
      }
    }
  ],
  "agnosticv_config": {
    "hierarchy": [
      {
        "file": "rhpds/agnosticv:common.yaml",
        "relevant_vars": {}
      },
      {
        "file": "rhpds/agnosticv:{platform}/account.yaml",
        "secrets_referenced": ["includes/secrets/{platform}.yml"]
      },
      {
        "file": "rhpds/agnosticv:{platform}/{catalog_item}/{env}.yaml",
        "missing_vars": ["variable_name"],
        "critical_finding": "Description of important finding"
      }
    ]
  },
  "agnosticd_workloads": [
    {
      "role": "{role_name}",
      "task_file": "tasks/{task_file}.yml",
      "task_line": 123,
      "task_action": "module.name"
    }
  ],
  "root_cause": {
    "summary": "Brief description of root cause",
    "category": "configuration|infrastructure|workload_bug|credential|resource|dependency",
    "subcategory": "specific_type",
    "confidence": "high|medium|low",
    "primary_evidence": ["Evidence point 1", "Evidence point 2"],
    "contributing_factors": ["Factor 1", "Factor 2"],
    "alternative_hypothesis": "Other possible explanation"
  },
  "recommendations": [
    {
      "priority": "critical|high|medium|low",
      "action": "What to do",
      "file": "rhpds/agnosticv:{platform}/{catalog_item}/{env}.yaml",
      "change": "Specific change to make"
    }
  ]
}

---

Files

| Step | File | Author | |------|------|--------| | 1 | step1_job_context.json | Python | | 2 | step2_splunk_logs.json | Python | | 3 | step3_correlation.json | Python | | 4 | step4_github_fetch_history.json | Python | | 5 | step5_analysis_summary.json | You |

All files in .analysis//

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: redhat-et
• Source: redhat-et/rhdp-rca-plugin
• License: Apache-2.0

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.