Step Trace and Inspector

The run debugger uses the step trace and inspector together. The step trace shows what happened during execution. The inspector shows the data captured for the selected run or selected step.

Step Trace

The step trace panel lists step execution records from the selected run snapshot. Each item can show:

Field	Meaning
Step name	The workflow step or task name.
Action group	Action group badge when the action definition is available.
Status	Step status icon and tooltip.
Reason	Optional explanation, often useful for skipped or suspended steps.
Duration	Step duration in milliseconds when timing data is available.

Select a step to inspect it. Select it again to return the inspector to run-level data.

Trace Filters

The trace toolbar includes:

Control	Use it for
Executed only	Hide skipped steps so the list focuses on work that actually ran.
Include skipped	Show all captured steps, including branches that were bypassed.
Search	Filter steps by step name, action name, reason, or status.

Filtering the trace does not change the selected run. If the selected step is hidden by filters, clear the search or include skipped steps to find it again.

Step Statuses

Status	Meaning
Pending	The step exists but has not run in the latest snapshot.
Running	The step started and has not reached a final state.
Suspended	The step paused execution and is waiting for resume data.
Completed	The step resolved successfully.
Failed	The step threw an error.
Skipped	Control flow bypassed the step.

Skipped steps are normal in conditional branches and some parallel strategies. A skipped step is only a problem if the branch should have run.

Inspector Tabs

The inspector has the same tabs for run-level and step-level inspection.

Tab	Run selected	Step selected
Overview	Status, trigger time, initiator, duration, data summaries, and error summary.	Step name, step status, duration, data summaries, and error summary.
Input	Full workflow input payload.	Evaluated input passed to the selected action.
Context	Workflow context after execution or latest persisted state.	Context before and after the selected step when captured.
Output	Final workflow output or latest persisted output.	Output returned by the selected action.
Logs / Errors	Run error message or error object.	Step error message and stack when captured.

JSON tabs use a structured viewer. Empty values appear as null, none, or an empty object depending on the captured field.

Data Summary

The overview tab summarizes data before you open the JSON tabs:

Summary	Meaning
none	No value was captured.
N fields	The value is an object with N top-level fields.
N items	The value is an array with N entries.
yes	A primitive value or non-empty error exists.

Use summaries to decide which JSON tab to open first. For example, a failed step with input fields and no output usually failed during the action call, while a finished run with output fields can be checked from the output tab.

Investigation Patterns

Symptom	What to inspect
Run failed	Select the failed step, then open Logs / Errors and compare the action input with the expected schema.
Run suspended	Select the suspended step, check the reason and context, then confirm the awaited event can resume the run.
Wrong branch ran	Include skipped steps, compare skipped and completed branches, then inspect the condition inputs in context.
Output is missing	Check whether the final run output is empty, then inspect the last completed step output.
Action received unexpected data	Select the step and compare Input with run-level Input and Context.
Behavior changed after publishing	Switch runs in the debugger header and compare workflow version chips plus step outputs.

Snapshot Availability

The trace depends on persisted stepLog data. If a run has no snapshot data yet, the trace shows an empty state. This can happen while a run is still being created, when a failure occurs before step execution begins, or when inspecting old records created before step traces were stored.