Debug GitHub Actions Tests That Pass Locally but Fail in CI
Overview
CI failures are one of the most frustrating parts of shipping code. Everything works locally
You push, and GitHub Actions decides to fail.
The logs aren’t always clear, and the issue usually isn’t where you expect it.
In this tutorial, we’ll walk through a realistic scenario where tests pass locally but fail in CI
Then we’ll debug it step by step.
Estimated Time: 5 min
Problem
We have a simple Node.js application with tests.
After pushing the same code, the CI pipeline fails in GitHub Actions.
The failure isn’t immediately clear.
The logs show a mix of errors:
Database connection failure
Test breaking with an undefined value
warning about the runtime
None of these clearly explain what’s actually wrong.
At this point, all we know is:
The same code behaves differently in CI than it does locally.
How Stakpak Helps?
Instead of digging through logs and guessing, you can debug and fix CI failures with a single prompt and keep them from happening again, stakpak:
Inspects the GitHub Actions workflow, logs, and test output
Analyzes runtime, environment variables, and dependencies
Connects failures across services, tests, and configuration
Identifies the actual root cause, not just the symptom
Applies safe fixes directly to the workflow and configuration
Once fixed, you can set up Autopilot to:
Continuously monitor CI/CD health
Detect failures early
Automatically fix issues when safe
Escalate only when human judgment is actually needed
Architecture
What the app does
This is a small Node.js app that simulates an order workflow.
It includes tests for:
connecting to a PostgreSQL database
building an order summary
running the app logic in CI
Locally, the app has everything it expects, so the tests pass.
In GitHub Actions, the same tests fail with errors like:
ECONNREFUSED ::1:5432items.toSorted is not a function
At this point, we do not know the root cause yet. We only know the CI environment is behaving differently from local.
You can check the code source here
Now that we understand the app, we can start troubleshooting.
Step-by-Step Guide
Prerequisites
Github credentials configured
Troubleshooting
Open stakpak ask it to
Troubleshoot the CICD,The tests work locally but not on github actions
Now let it do its stakpak magic
That's it
This wasn’t a single bug it was a combination of small issues.
CI was using an older Node version, missing required environment variables, and didn’t have a Postgres database running. These assumptions worked locally but broke in CI.
Now let's push the fix to GitHub and see
Now everything is working🥳
Now, let's ask it to set up Stakpak Autopilot
Stakpak Autopilot monitors your apps 24/7, detects unexpected changes, fixes what’s safe, and only alerts you when it actually matters.
Monitoring
All we need to do is to prompt it to
set up stakpak autopilot scheduals to make sure the cicd is healthy
Extra Resources:
Related Use Cases
and more...
References
Last updated