failure-diagnosis

Diagnose failing Playwright tests through evidence-based triage of traces, screenshots, and console logs.

5|2|Updated May 19, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/civitas-cerebrum/achilles --skill failure-diagnosis-civitas-cerebrum
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: failure-diagnosis
Source: https://github.com/civitas-cerebrum/achilles/tree/main/skills/failure-diagnosis
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/civitas-cerebrum/achilles --skill failure-diagnosis-civitas-cerebrum

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? Failing Playwright tests are often diagnosed from the error message alone, producing wrong root-cause classifications — real app bugs get hidden by test edits, and test issues get misreported as app bugs. This Skill enforces a structured, evidence-first diagnostic pipeline so every failure is classified from observed page state rather than guesswork. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Dual entrypoints: Handles both local failures (artifacts already on disk) and CI pipeline failures (artifacts pulled down via the GitHub CLI, pinned to the run's commit and dependency versions). - Mandatory evidence floor: Requires inspection of the trace, the UI/DOM at failure, and the browser console before any root cause is proposed, with explicit handling for missing traces and expired artifacts. - Classification and healing: Groups failures by root cause, classifies them as test issue, app bug, framework defect, or ambiguous, then applies the matching heal strategy or files an evidence-backed bug report. - Use Case: When a nightly CI regression goes red, dispatch a subagent with this Skill to download the run's artifacts, inspect the failing attempt's trace and screenshots, and report whether the failures are stale selectors, a genuine app regression, or a framework version mismatch. ## Quick Start Dispatch a subagent with the failure-diagnosis skill to investigate why the nightly CI regression run failed and report the root cause with evidence.

Frequently Asked Questions about failure-diagnosis

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I diagnose a failing Playwright test?▼

Start by collecting evidence rather than reading the error message alone: open the trace with npx playwright show-trace, read the failure screenshot and error-context.md aria snapshot, and review the browser console. Then classify the failure as a test issue, app bug, or framework defect based on observed page state.

How to investigate a failed Playwright CI run with GitHub Actions?▼

Use the gh CLI to list the run's jobs, read the failing step's log, and download the artifacts with gh run download. Pin your analysis to the run's commit via git show, and compare the CI-resolved dependency versions against your local ones before reading any source.

Why does my Playwright trace show a passing run when the test failed?▼

Under trace: 'on-first-retry', the failing first attempt has only a screenshot and video, while the trace.zip lives in the sibling -retry1 directory, which may have passed. Always check which attempt directory each artifact came from before drawing conclusions.

Can a resolved Playwright selector still be the root cause of a failure?▼

Yes. A stale page-repository selector can match a hidden duplicate element, so the click fires on an offscreen or aria-hidden clone and nothing visible happens. Check count(selector) for ambiguity and cross-reference the element's bounding box against the failure screenshot.

When should a test failure be reported as an app bug instead of fixed?▼

Report an app bug only after the evidence floor is complete and observed page state contradicts documented behavior in app-context.md, such as a modal whose content hangs on a spinner sentinel. Never re-baseline assertions or update expected option lists to mask a degraded upstream fetch.