Basic troubleshooting (deploy-time and startup)

Use this when a deploy fails, the service crashes on start, or health checks time out. Keep fixes minimal and redeploy after each change.

1) Classify the failure

• Build failure: errors in build logs, missing dependencies, build command issues.
• Startup failure: app exits quickly, crashes, or cannot bind to $PORT.
• Runtime/health failure: service is live but health checks fail or 5xx errors.

2) Quick checks by class

Build failure

• Confirm the build command is correct for the runtime.
• Ensure required dependencies are present in package.json, requirements.txt, etc.
• Check for missing build-time env vars.

Startup failure

• Confirm the start command and working directory.
• Ensure port binding is 0.0.0.0:$PORT.
• Check for missing runtime env vars (secrets, DB URLs).

Runtime/health failure

• Verify the health endpoint path and response.
• Confirm the app is actually listening on $PORT.
• Check database connectivity and migrations.

3) Map error signatures to fixes

Use error-patterns.md for a compact catalog of common log messages.

4) If still blocked

Gather the latest build logs and runtime error logs, then consider the optional render-debug skill for deeper diagnostics (metrics, DB checks, expanded patterns).