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Failure Modes

Use this page when you need a symptom-first way to classify what is wrong before you choose a runbook, restart, or escalation path.

When to use this page​

  • You see a failure but do not yet know which product or repo owns it.
  • You need to classify whether the problem is docs, contract, readiness, integration, or runtime related.
  • You want a guarded diagnosis order before mutation.

Prerequisites​

  • You can capture basic readback from the affected environment or publication surface.
  • You understand that diagnosis should start with evidence before recovery actions.

Failure model​

Most public-safe Helpifyr failures fit one of these classes:

  • stale or contradictory docs publication
  • contract or projection drift
  • degraded readiness or security posture
  • broken integration or handoff workflow
  • partial deployment or recovery mismatch

Architecture / Flow​

Step-by-step procedure​

1. Classify the symptom first​

Ask:

  • is the problem in docs publication or live runtime
  • is the problem a readiness regression or a contract mismatch
  • is the issue cross-repo or already narrowed to one tool

2. Start with bounded readback​

Illustrative checks:

GET /health
GET /api/v1/docs/readiness
GET /api/v1/contracts/drift
GET /api/v1/observability/readiness
GET /api/v1/security/readiness

3. Choose the matching runbook​

Common next choices:

4. Re-verify after the change​

Do not stop at “the command succeeded.” Re-read the same evidence family and confirm the user-visible symptom is gone.

Failure family hints​

  • docs look stale but source changes are known:
    • check docs readiness and provenance first
  • readiness is red but health is green:
    • investigate subsystem readiness rather than doing a blind restart
  • integration path fails after a shared change:
    • check ownership and end-to-end handoff, not only one repo

Verification​

This page is being used correctly when:

  1. the symptom is classified before mutation
  2. a runbook is chosen from evidence rather than guesswork
  3. post-fix readback is part of the workflow

Common failure modes​

Restarting before classifying the failure​

Problem:

  • evidence is lost and the root cause may stay unresolved.

Better path:

  • classify the family and capture readback first

Treating a docs symptom as only a docs problem​

Problem:

  • a deeper platform-truth or publication issue stays hidden.

Better path:

  • compare docs readiness, provenance, and runtime truth together

Source Truth​

Next paths​