mirror-doctor

name

mirror-doctor

description

Diagnose and fix broken Goldsky Mirror pipelines. Use this skill whenever a user has a Mirror pipeline that is failing, stuck, terminated, won't start, is in a restart loop, or is blocked by an in-flight request. Also use when the user mentions a specific Mirror pipeline name alongside a problem — even if they don't say 'mirror' explicitly, if they're using `goldsky pipeline` commands (not `goldsky turbo`), this is the right skill. Runs CLI commands directly to check status, read errors, identify root cause, and apply fixes. For YAML syntax or config reference, use /mirror instead. For turbo pipeline problems, use /turbo-doctor instead.

Mirror Pipeline Doctor

Diagnose and fix existing Mirror pipeline problems by running CLI commands, identifying root causes, and executing fixes.

Boundaries

• Diagnose and fix EXISTING Mirror pipeline problems.
• Do not build new pipelines — use /mirror for config reference or /turbo-builder for new Turbo pipelines.
• Do not serve as a command reference — use /mirror for CLI syntax and flag lookups.
• Do not handle Turbo pipelines — use /turbo-doctor for goldsky turbo problems.
• Do not create secrets — use /secrets for credential management. But DO check whether secrets exist as part of diagnosis.

Diagnostic Workflow

Follow these steps in order. Each step builds on the previous one.

Step 1: Verify Authentication

Run goldsky project list 2>&1 to confirm the user is logged in.

• If logged in: Note the project name and continue.
• If not logged in: Direct the user to /auth-setup. Do not proceed until auth works.

Step 2: Identify the Pipeline

Run goldsky pipeline list --include-runtime-details 2>&1 to list all Mirror pipelines with their status.

If the user already named a pipeline, confirm it exists in the list. If not, show the list and ask which pipeline they want to diagnose.

Note both the desired status (ACTIVE, INACTIVE, PAUSED) and the runtime status (STARTING, RUNNING, FAILING, TERMINATED) — Mirror pipelines have both, and the combination tells the story.

Step 3: Triage by Status

The desired + runtime status combination determines the diagnostic path:

Desired	Runtime	Meaning	Action
ACTIVE	RUNNING	Healthy — pipeline is processing data	Ask user what symptom they're seeing. Proceed to Step 4.
ACTIVE	STARTING	Pipeline is initializing	Ask how long. If >10 min, proceed to Step 4.
ACTIVE	FAILING	Pipeline is encountering errors but hasn't terminated yet	Proceed to Step 4 immediately — this is time-sensitive.
ACTIVE	TERMINATED	Most common failure. Pipeline wanted to run but crashed.	Proceed to Step 4.
PAUSED	TERMINATED	User paused the pipeline (snapshot was taken).	Ask if they want to resume: goldsky pipeline start <name> --from-snapshot last
INACTIVE	TERMINATED	User stopped the pipeline (no snapshot).	Ask if they want to start: goldsky pipeline start <name>

ACTIVE + TERMINATED is the most common case. The pipeline's desired status is ACTIVE (it should be running) but the runtime has terminated due to an error. Focus the diagnosis here.

Step 4: Gather Diagnostic Data

Run these commands to understand what went wrong:

# Get error details and runtime metrics
goldsky pipeline monitor <name> 2>&1

# Check for in-flight requests blocking operations
goldsky pipeline monitor <name> --update-request 2>&1

# Get the pipeline definition to check for misconfig
goldsky pipeline get <name> --definition 2>&1

# Get pipeline info including version
goldsky pipeline info <name> 2>&1

# Check available snapshots
goldsky pipeline snapshots list <name> 2>&1

Run these in sequence and analyze the output before proceeding. The monitor output is the most important — it shows error messages, records received/written metrics, and runtime status transitions.

Step 5: Match Error Patterns

Based on the diagnostic data, match against these known patterns:

Bad or Missing Secret

Symptoms: Pipeline terminates shortly after starting. Monitor shows credential or authentication errors.

Verify: Run goldsky secret list 2>&1 and cross-reference with the secret_name values in the pipeline definition from Step 4.

Fix:

1. If the secret doesn't exist, direct the user to /secrets to create it.
2. If the secret exists but credentials are wrong, create a new secret (secrets are immutable — you create a replacement with the same name).
3. Restart: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot last

Sink Unreachable

Symptoms: Connection timeout, connection refused, or network errors in the monitor output. Pipeline may cycle between FAILING and TERMINATED.

Common causes:

• Firewall not allowing inbound from AWS us-west-2 (Mirror pipelines write from this region)
• Database is down or restarted
• Connection pool exhausted
• Wrong port or host in the secret

Fix:

1. Verify the sink is reachable from us-west-2.
2. Check that the secret has the correct host, port, and credentials.
3. Once connectivity is restored, restart: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot last

Resource Exhaustion

Symptoms: Pipeline runs for a while then terminates. Monitor may show high record counts or slow processing. Common during large backfills or pipelines with many sources/JOINs.

Fix:

1. Resize: goldsky pipeline resize <name> <size> — sizes are s, m, l, xl, xxl.
2. Start small and go up. s handles most workloads (up to 300K records/sec, ~8 subgraph sources). Use l or larger for big chain backfills or heavy JOINs.

In-Flight Request Blocking

Symptoms: User tries to update, delete, or restart the pipeline but gets "Cannot process request, found existing request in-flight."

Diagnose: goldsky pipeline monitor <name> --update-request — this shows what operation is in progress (usually a snapshot).

Fix:

1. If the in-flight operation is a snapshot that's making progress, wait for it.
2. If it's stuck or unwanted: goldsky pipeline cancel-update <name>
3. Then retry the original operation.

Stuck Snapshot

Symptoms: Pipeline can't be paused, updated, or restarted because a snapshot creation is taking too long or failing. The --update-request monitor shows snapshot progress stuck at a percentage.

Fix:

1. Cancel the stuck snapshot: goldsky pipeline cancel-update <name>
2. Restart without waiting for a new snapshot: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot last
3. If there's no usable snapshot: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot none (starts from scratch — warn the user this reprocesses data)

Transform SQL Error

Symptoms: Pipeline terminates with SQL-related error messages. Could be syntax errors, referencing a non-existent column, or type mismatches.

Diagnose: Check the pipeline definition (goldsky pipeline get <name> --definition) and look at the transforms section.

Fix:

1. Identify the SQL error from the monitor output.
2. Fix the SQL in the pipeline YAML file.
3. Validate: goldsky pipeline validate <file.yaml>
4. Reapply: goldsky pipeline apply <file.yaml> --status ACTIVE --from-snapshot last

Use /mirror for SQL transform syntax reference if needed.

Pipeline in Restart Loop

Symptoms: Pipeline repeatedly cycles through STARTING → FAILING → TERMINATED. Monitor shows the same error recurring.

This is usually a symptom of another root cause — bad secret, sink unreachable, or resource issues. The pipeline keeps trying to start but hits the same wall.

Fix:

1. Identify the underlying error from the monitor (it's usually one of the patterns above).
2. Fix the root cause first.
3. Then restart: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot last

Sink Downtime Cascade

Symptoms: Pipeline was running fine, then the sink (database) went down temporarily. Pipeline auto-retried, then restarted its writers, then eventually terminated.

This is expected behavior — Mirror handles transient sink errors automatically (retry batch → restart writers → fail after prolonged issues).

Fix:

1. Confirm the sink is back up and healthy.
2. Restart from the last snapshot: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot last
3. The pipeline will resume from where it left off, not reprocess everything.

Step 6: Present Diagnosis

After identifying the issue, present findings clearly:

## Diagnosis

**Pipeline:** <name>
**Status:** <desired> + <runtime>
**Issue:** <one-line summary>

**Root cause:**
<What's wrong and why>

**Evidence:**
- <Error message or observation from monitor>
- <Relevant detail from pipeline definition>

**Recommended fix:**
1. <Step 1>
2. <Step 2>

**Prevention:**
<How to avoid this in the future, if applicable>

Step 7: Execute Fix

Offer to run the fix commands directly. Always confirm with the user before executing:

• Restart: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot last
• Resize: goldsky pipeline resize <name> <size>
• Cancel blocked operation: goldsky pipeline cancel-update <name>
• Restart from scratch: goldsky pipeline restart <name> --from-snapshot none (warn: reprocesses data)
• Reapply config: goldsky pipeline apply <file.yaml> --status ACTIVE --from-snapshot last
• Delete and recreate: goldsky pipeline delete <name> -f then goldsky pipeline apply <file.yaml> --status ACTIVE (last resort)

After executing, verify recovery by running goldsky pipeline monitor <name> and watching for STARTING → RUNNING transition.

Important Rules

• Always gather data before diagnosing. Never guess at the problem.
• Check both desired AND runtime status — the combination matters.
• Confirm with the user before running any destructive commands (delete, restart from scratch).
• --from-snapshot last preserves progress. --from-snapshot none starts over. Default to last unless there's a reason not to.
• Transient errors are auto-retried for up to 6 hours. Non-transient errors terminate immediately. If the pipeline terminated quickly after starting, it's likely a config issue (bad secret, wrong SQL), not a transient network blip.
• If the problem is beyond CLI diagnosis, suggest contacting [e-mail] with the pipeline name, error messages, and project ID.

When Bash is Not Available

If you don't have the Bash tool, output the diagnostic commands for the user to run, but structure them clearly:

1. Give one command at a time.
2. Explain what to look for in the output.
3. Based on their description of the output, proceed with the diagnosis.

This is the fallback path — always prefer running commands directly when Bash is available.

Related

• /mirror — Pipeline YAML configuration, CLI flag reference, sink setup
• /secrets — Create and manage sink credentials
• /auth-setup — CLI installation and authentication
• /turbo-doctor — Diagnose Turbo pipeline problems (not Mirror)