cicd workflow ai_generated true

Error: Matrix job 'test (node-18, ubuntu-latest)' failed

ID: cicd/github-actions-matrix-fail

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85%Fix Rate
87%Confidence
50Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
any active — — —

Root Cause

One or more matrix combinations in a GitHub Actions workflow failed. With fail-fast enabled (default), a single matrix failure cancels all other running matrix jobs. This makes it hard to identify which specific combinations are broken.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 88% success Disable fail-fast to see all matrix failures at once 
    Set strategy: fail-fast: false in the job definition. This allows all matrix combinations to complete, making it easier to identify patterns (e.g., all Node 18 jobs fail, but Node 20 passes).
  2. 85% success Use matrix include/exclude to handle known incompatible combinations 
    Use strategy.matrix.exclude to skip known incompatible combinations. Use strategy.matrix.include to add specific variable overrides for certain combinations that need different configuration.

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Setting continue-on-error: true on the matrix job 70% fail

    This makes the entire workflow appear green even when matrix combinations fail, masking real failures and breaking the quality gate

  2. Removing matrix combinations that fail instead of fixing them 75% fail

    Removing failing combinations reduces test coverage. The underlying issue persists and may affect production environments that match the removed combination.

Error Chain

Leads to:
Preceded by:
Frequently confused with: