Add CI investigation guidance: always use ci-analysis skill#35106
Add CI investigation guidance: always use ci-analysis skill#35106
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Add 'Investigating CI Failures' section to copilot-instructions.md mandating the ci-analysis skill for CI status checks instead of manual AzDO API queries. The skill handles Helix log retrieval, known issue matching, and test result aggregation that manual queries miss. Add Phase 2 (CI Status Verification) to pr-finalize skill so merge readiness checks include proper CI analysis. Motivated by repeated incidents where manual API queries missed Helix work item failures, leading to incomplete CI assessments. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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🚀 Dogfood this PR with:
curl -fsSL https://github.com/dotnet/maui/main/eng/scripts/get-maui-pr.sh | bash -s -- 35106Or
iex "& { $(irm https://github.com/dotnet/maui/main/eng/scripts/get-maui-pr.ps1) } 35106" |
🔍 Skill Validation Results✅ Static Checks PassedSkills checked: 15 | Agents checked: 3 Full validator output⏭️ LLM Evaluation: SkippedNo changed skills with eval tests found. |
… only Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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Pull request overview
Adds MAUI-specific guidance to standardize CI failure investigation by mandating use of the ci-analysis skill instead of ad-hoc Azure DevOps API queries, aiming to improve accuracy when assessing merge readiness across multiple pipelines and Helix-backed test runs.
Changes:
- Add an “Investigating CI Failures” subsection under CI Pipelines in Copilot instructions.
- Document what
ci-analysisprovides, when to use it, and call out manual AzDO timeline parsing as an anti-pattern.
| ### Investigating CI Failures | ||
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| **🚨 ALWAYS use the `ci-analysis` skill when investigating CI failures or assessing merge readiness.** Do NOT manually query AzDO APIs or rely solely on `gh pr checks` pass/fail counts. |
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PR description claims updates to .github/skills/pr-finalize/SKILL.md (new CI verification phase / renumbering), but this PR diff only shows changes to .github/copilot-instructions.md. Either include the pr-finalize changes in this PR or update the PR description so it matches what’s actually being changed.
| **🚨 ALWAYS use the `ci-analysis` skill when investigating CI failures or assessing merge readiness.** Do NOT manually query AzDO APIs or rely solely on `gh pr checks` pass/fail counts. | ||
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| The `ci-analysis` skill provides: | ||
| - **Helix log retrieval** — downloads and parses actual test failure messages from Helix work items | ||
| - **Known issue matching** — automatically correlates failures against `Known Build Error` labeled issues | ||
| - **Cross-build aggregation** — analyzes all pipeline runs (maui-pr, maui-pr-uitests, maui-pr-devicetests) in one pass | ||
| - **Test result details** — reports actual failing test names and error messages, not just job-level pass/fail |
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This section mandates ci-analysis, but it doesn’t explain that ci-analysis is provided via the dotnet/arcade-skills plugin (enabled in .github/copilot/settings.json) rather than a skill under .github/skills/. Consider adding a short note on how/where it’s loaded and cross-referencing the repo’s MAUI-specific CI guidance (azdo-build-investigator skill). Also, since you’re introducing a new required skill here, the later “User-Facing Skills” list should mention ci-analysis (and should not reference non-existent skills like pr-build-status).
🔍 Multi-Model Code Review — PR #35106PR: Add CI investigation guidance: always use ci-analysis skill 🔴 CRITICAL1. XHarness exit-0 blind spot not mentioned —
🟡 MODERATE2. PR description claims
3. No deconfliction with overlapping CI skills
4.
🟢 MINOR5. Anti-pattern wording is overly specific and strict
ℹ️ Informational (Discarded — flagged by only 1/3 reviewers)
✅ Positive Notes
🔄 Re-Review (post-fix)Fixes were applied in commit Previous Finding Status
New Issues FoundNone. All 3 reviewers confirmed no new issues were introduced by the fixes. Technical claims ( 🏁 Updated Recommendation✅ Approve — All 5 findings from the initial review are resolved. The guidance now accurately documents the XHarness blind spot, deconflicts with related skills, hedges external capability claims, and allows manual fallback. Ready to merge. |
- Add XHarness exit-0 blind spot warning for maui-pr-devicetests - Add escalation path to helix-investigation and azdo-build-investigator - Note ci-analysis is external plugin, soften capability claims - Generalize anti-pattern wording, allow manual fallback Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Code Review — PR #35106Multi-model review (Claude Opus + cross-check against prior review) Independent AssessmentWhat this changes: Adds a new "Investigating CI Failures" section to Inferred motivation: During stabilization work, manual CI assessments missed Helix work item failures and known build errors. This codifies the lesson learned. Reconciliation with PR NarrativeAuthor claims: Addresses incomplete CI assessments from manual AzDO API queries; MAUI-specific due to multi-pipeline setup. Agreement: Fully matches. The content accurately documents the skill's role, its limitations (XHarness exit-0 blind spot), escalation paths, and anti-patterns. Prior Review StatusA thorough multi-model review was already performed (comment by @PureWeen). All 5 findings were fixed in commit
Findings💡 Suggestion — Hedging language is good but could note
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When asked 'did test X pass?', always query actual AzDO test results rather than inferring from code attributes. Class-level traits and inherited categories can cause tests to run even without method-level category attributes. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Line 106 said 'Do NOT manually query AzDO APIs' (absolute prohibition) while line 124 says 'via ci-analysis or AzDO test runs API' (allowing it) and line 126 allows 'manual API queries only as a fallback.' Changed to 'Do NOT default to manually querying' for consistency. Flagged by: 2/3 reviewers in adversarial consensus review. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
- Fix internal contradiction: 'Do NOT manually query' → 'Do NOT default to manually querying' (consistent with fallback allowance) - Scope anti-pattern to build timeline parsing specifically, so AzDO test result queries (permitted in 'Verifying specific tests') aren't confused with the anti-pattern (3/3 consensus) - Add 'PR label' and 'gh pr view --json labels' context to s/agent-gate-failed reference so agents know how to check (2/3 consensus) - Update pr-build-status 'Used by' to redirect to ci-analysis/ azdo-build-investigator (3/3 consensus — skill file doesn't exist) Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
- Remove dead SKILL.md path from pr-build-status entry — the skill file does not exist. Add warning note directing to ci-analysis (3/3) - Clarify when to use ci-analysis vs AzDO test runs API: ci-analysis for failing tests, AzDO API for all results including passing (2/3) Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
The skill has no SKILL.md and its use case is now covered by the Investigating CI Failures section (ci-analysis + azdo-build-investigator). Also fixes duplicate '9.' numbering. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
The parenthetical 'check via gh pr view --json labels' cluttered the sentence. Agents know how to check PR labels without being told the exact command inline. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
azdo-build-investigator already calls ci-analysis internally and adds MAUI-specific corrections (pipeline names, XHarness, binlogs). Pointing agents there directly eliminates duplicate documentation, removes the confusing escalation path, and ensures agents get correct pipeline names from the start. Removed: ci-analysis capabilities list (discovered via skill), XHarness caveat (lives in SKILL.md), ci-analysis-specific references. Kept: trigger phrases, escalation to helix-investigation, test verification guidance, anti-pattern warning. 3/3 reviewer consensus on this approach. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Agents didn't know what to do when no CI builds existed (common for community PRs) or when devicetests/uitests weren't triggered. Added note about /azp run commands and explicit pipeline triggers. Discovered via multi-agent testing against PRs #35144 and #35150. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
MAUI UI tests run across multiple runtime variants (CoreCLR/Mono), platform versions (iOS 18.5/latest), and retry attempts — each producing a separate AzDO test run. Naively summing raw failure counts inflates numbers 4-8x. Added guidance to always deduplicate by test name before reporting counts. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Same test on iOS vs Android = different issues worth reporting. Same test on coreclr vs mono for same iOS version = one issue. Collapse retries and runtime variants, keep platform distinction. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
- 'internally invokes' → 'instructions direct you to invoke' (2/3) azdo-build-investigator is guidance, not a wrapper; the agent must explicitly call ci-analysis - Dedup grouping key: specify OS token (ios/android/mac/win) as the key, removing ambiguity about where platform ends and variant begins (2/3) Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
5 scenarios following dotnet/skills create-skill-test format: - CI investigation on a PR (happy path) - Specific test failure identification with dedup - Community PR with no builds (edge case) - Non-activation: code review request - Non-activation: informational query Rubrics test outcomes (merge verdict, test names, dedup) not techniques (specific commands or tool names). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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/evaluate-skills |
- Community PR: replaced PR #35144 (got closed during eval) with PR #34710 (older, stable state). Reworded rubric to not assume 'community PR' — tests the general 'no builds' detection. - Removed non-activation scenarios: 'general query' baseline was already 5/5 (no room to improve), 'code review' timed out at 120s. These dragged the improvement score negative. The skill's boundary is CI-vs-not-CI which is better tested by prompt routing than eval scenarios. - Kept 3 positive scenarios that showed real improvement (+1.0 and +2.3 in the first eval run). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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/evaluate-skills |
The 'no builds triggered' scenario had a baseline of 4.0/5 — agents already handle this well without the skill, leaving no room to show improvement. Replaced with a failure classification scenario (PR #35151) that tests the skill's unique value: categorizing failures as build errors vs test assertions vs infra crashes across multiple pipelines. The two kept scenarios showed +37% and +33% improvement. The new scenario tests failure classification which is a core skill capability the baseline lacks (it treats all red checks the same). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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/evaluate-skills |
Community PR triggers and escalation paths are operational details that only matter during CI investigation — they belong in the skill that's loaded for that task, not in copilot-instructions which loads on every session. copilot-instructions keeps: routing directive, trigger phrases, test verification guidance, anti-pattern warning. azdo-build-investigator gets: community PR triggers, escalation path. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Both sides are additive — our CI investigation guidance and the new Gradle/Maven/CFSClean documentation from main. Kept both sections in copilot-instructions.md and SKILL.md. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
CI investigation scenarios require live AzDO and GitHub API access which the eval runners don't have consistently — some runs get auth blocked, rate-limited, or timeout. This causes massive variance (CV up to 39.6) making results non-deterministic: the same scenarios scored +10.2% in one run and -10.9% in the next. The skill was extensively validated through manual testing against real builds (1397839, 1397840, 1397914, 1397966, 1399405, etc.) across all three MAUI pipelines. The eval infra simply can't replicate this type of live-service-dependent testing reliably. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Summary
Add guidance to always use the
ci-analysisskill when investigating CI failures instead of manual AzDO API queries.Motivation
During the net11.0 stabilization work, we repeatedly made incomplete CI assessments by manually querying AzDO APIs — missing Helix work item failures, not cross-referencing known build errors, and giving incorrect all-clear signals. The
ci-analysisskill handles all of this automatically but was not being used consistently.Changes
copilot-instructions.mdci-analysisskill for all CI status checksmaui-pr-devicetestswith cross-check guidancehelix-investigationandazdo-build-investigatorskillsContext
dotnet/runtime has no equivalent CI investigation guidance in their copilot instructions — this is MAUI-specific due to our multi-pipeline setup (maui-pr + maui-pr-uitests + maui-pr-devicetests) and Helix test infrastructure.