| name | elastictranscoder-diagnostics |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| last_updated | 2025-04-12 |
| description | Use this skill to investigate and troubleshoot Amazon Elastic Transcoder problems by analyzing pipeline creation, job failures, preset errors, input/output format issues, notification failures, permission errors, watermark/thumbnail issues, and following structured runbooks. Activate when: pipeline creation failures, job stuck in progressing, preset configuration errors, media format issues, SNS notification problems, IAM permission errors, or the user says something is wrong with Elastic Transcoder.
|
| compatibility | Requires AWS CLI or SDK access with elastictranscoder, iam, s3, sns, and cloudwatch permissions.
|
Amazon Elastic Transcoder Diagnostics
When to use
Any Elastic Transcoder investigation — pipeline creation, job failures, preset configuration, input/output format errors, notification delivery, permission issues, or watermark/thumbnail problems.
Investigation workflow
Step 1 — Collect and triage
aws elastictranscoder list-pipelines --query 'Pipelines[*].{Id:Id,Name:Name,Status:Status,InputBucket:InputBucket}'
aws elastictranscoder list-jobs-by-pipeline --pipeline-id <pipeline-id> --query 'Jobs[*].{Id:Id,Status:Status,Output:Output.Status}'
aws elastictranscoder list-presets --query 'Presets[*].{Id:Id,Name:Name,Type:Type}'
Step 2 — Domain deep dive
aws elastictranscoder read-pipeline --id <pipeline-id>
aws elastictranscoder read-job --id <job-id>
aws elastictranscoder read-preset --id <preset-id>
Step 3 — Detailed investigation
aws s3 ls s3://<input-bucket>/<key> --human-readable
aws sns list-subscriptions-by-topic --topic-arn <topic-arn>
aws cloudtrail lookup-events --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventSource,AttributeValue=elastictranscoder.amazonaws.com --max-results 20
Read references/guardrails.md before concluding on any Elastic Transcoder issue.
Tool quick reference
| Tool / API | When to use |
|---|
elastictranscoder list-pipelines | List all pipelines |
elastictranscoder read-pipeline | Get pipeline details |
elastictranscoder list-jobs-by-pipeline | List jobs for a pipeline |
elastictranscoder read-job | Get job details and status |
elastictranscoder list-presets | List available presets |
elastictranscoder read-preset | Get preset configuration |
elastictranscoder create-job | Submit a transcoding job |
Gotchas: Elastic Transcoder
- Elastic Transcoder is a LEGACY service. AWS recommends MediaConvert for new workloads. Elastic Transcoder is still supported but receives no new features.
- Pipelines are REGIONAL. Each pipeline is tied to a specific region and uses S3 buckets in that region. Cross-region bucket references fail silently.
- The service role needs s3:GetObject on the input bucket AND s3:PutObject on the output bucket. Missing either permission causes jobs to fail with AccessDenied.
- Jobs stuck in "Progressing" for extended periods usually indicate the input file is corrupted, too large, or in an unsupported codec — NOT a service outage.
- System presets cannot be modified. To customize encoding settings, create a custom preset. System preset IDs start with "1351620000001-".
- Watermarks require PNG format with alpha channel. JPEG watermarks are silently ignored or cause job failures.
- Thumbnail generation is configured per-output, not per-job. Each output can have different thumbnail settings.
Anti-hallucination rules
- Always cite specific pipeline IDs, job IDs, or API responses as evidence.
- Elastic Transcoder is NOT MediaConvert. Never suggest MediaConvert APIs or features.
- System presets are immutable. Never suggest modifying a system preset.
- Pipeline status must be "Active" for jobs to process. Never assume pipeline is active without checking.
- Spend no more than 2 minutes on any single hypothesis. Pivot if inconclusive.
12 runbooks
| Category | IDs | Covers |
|---|
| A — Pipelines | A1–A2 | Creation failures, configuration |
| B — Jobs | B1–B2 | Job failures, stuck progressing |
| C — Presets | C1–C2 | Preset errors, custom preset issues |
| D — Formats | D1–D2 | Input format errors, output format issues |
| E — Notifications & Permissions | E1–E2 | Notification failures, permission errors |
| F — Media Features | F1 | Watermark and thumbnail issues |
| Z — Catch-All | Z1 | General troubleshooting |
