Debugging failed executions
When an automation fails:- Navigate to the automation details page
- Click on the failed execution
- Review the Action conversation for error messages and execution details
- Check which step failed and review the error output
- Contact your Ona account manager with the execution details for assistance
Trigger issues
Manual triggers not starting
Issue: Automation doesn’t start when triggered manually Solutions:- Verify your user account or service account has access to the target repositories or projects
- Check that the repositories match your search query
- Ensure the project exists and contains repositories
- Verify you have permissions to run automations in your organization
Pull request triggers not firing
Issue: Automation doesn’t run when pull requests are opened or updated Solutions:- Verify the webhook is correctly configured in GitHub or GitLab
- Check the webhook configuration matches the details from the automation settings
- Confirm the webhook secret is entered correctly
- Verify the webhook is active and not disabled
- Check that pull request events are selected in the webhook configuration
Time-based triggers not running
Issue: Scheduled automation doesn’t execute at the expected time Solutions:- Verify the schedule is configured correctly (remember schedules run on UTC)
- Check that the automation is not paused or disabled
- Confirm your service account has access to target repositories
- Review the automation execution history for any error messages
Git and repository access issues
Issue: Automation fails with “repository not found” or “access denied” errors Solutions: For user accounts:- Verify you have access to the target repositories in your SCM (GitHub/GitLab)
- Check that your personal access token has the required scopes
- Ensure the repositories haven’t been moved or deleted
- Verify the service account has Git authentication configured
- Check the personal access token is still valid and hasn’t expired
- Confirm the token has required permissions (repo, read:user, user:email, workflow)
- Ensure the service account has access to the target repositories
Permission errors
Issue: “Permission denied” or “Insufficient permissions” errors Current limitation: Projects must be enabled for “all members of an organization” for automations to access them. Solutions:- Navigate to the project settings
- Ensure the project is shared with “all members” of your organization
- Verify your service account is a member of the organization
- Check that the automation’s service account has the necessary SCM permissions
Getting help
If you continue to experience issues after trying these solutions:-
Gather the following information:
- Automation name and ID
- Execution ID (if available)
- Error messages from the Action conversation
- Steps to reproduce the issue
- Contact your Ona account manager with these details
Next steps
- Review Guardrails to understand automation safety controls
- Check Service Accounts for authentication setup
- Learn about Audit Logs for tracking automation activity