View and compare pipeline executions
View and compare the compiled YAML used for pipeline executions to understand changes and troubleshoot issues.
You can view the compiled Harness pipeline YAML used for your pipeline execution and compare two executions. Comparing pipeline YAML helps you understand the changes that occurred between executions, which can help with troubleshooting.
What you will learn from this topic
How to view pipeline execution history and access logs.
How to view the compiled YAML for a specific pipeline execution.
How to compare two executions to identify changes and troubleshoot issues.
Before you begin
Harness account access: You need access to a Harness account with pipelines. For how to access or create a Harness account, see Getting started with Harness Platform.
Pipeline execution permissions: You need View permission on Pipelines to view execution history and compiled YAML. To get this permission, an administrator must assign you a role that includes it. Go to RBAC in Harness to understand role-based access control and Manage roles to configure role assignments.
Familiarity with Harness concepts: You should be familiar with Continuous Delivery key concepts or Continuous Integration key concepts.
View executions
The Executions page lists every execution of every pipeline in a project, including reruns and child pipelines, with the 30 most recent days shown by default. Use Search, My Executions, Status, Timeframe, or Add Filter to narrow the list, and use the sort dropdown at the top right to change the sort order.
Each row shows the following information:
Pipeline Name: The name of the pipeline and its execution ID. For a chained execution, this also shows the parent pipeline that triggered it.
Status: The current status of the execution, such as
SUCCESSorFAILED. For a failed execution, this also shows the stage where the failure occurred.Trigger Summary: How the execution was started, such as manually by a user or by another pipeline.
Update Summary: Execution information for the Continuous Delivery (CD) and Database DevOps modules, such as the service and environment, or schema version and database instance, used in the execution.
Execution Start Time: The user or trigger that started the execution, and how long ago it started.
Duration: How long the execution took to run.
Pipeline Timeout: The time at which the execution is set to expire, calculated from the execution start time and the pipeline's configured timeout duration. Harness calculates this value for every execution, regardless of its final status. This value reflects only the pipeline-level timeout, and does not account for stage-level or step-level timeouts. Hover over the value to view the exact expiry date and time. Select the column header, or use the sort dropdown, to sort executions by pipeline timeout. Executions with no pipeline timeout configured always appear at the end of the list, regardless of sort direction.
For account-level visibility into pipelines close to expiry across all projects and organizations, go to Pipelines close to expiry.
For detailed guidance on viewing executions in specific modules:
View builds: View build execution history and logs for build pipelines.
View test results: View test execution results and reports for build pipelines with test steps.
Monitor deployments: Use dashboards to monitor deployment executions and track DORA metrics.
Executions management: View and manage all queued and running pipeline executions across your account from a central location.
Download execution logs: Download logs from any pipeline execution for offline analysis.
View compiled YAML
A pipeline's compiled execution YAML is the YAML used for execution, including all resolved runtime inputs, expressions, and variables.
Perform the following steps to view the compiled YAML for a pipeline execution:
Navigate to your pipeline and select Execution History.
Locate the execution that you want to inspect, select More Options (⋮), and then select View Compiled YAML.
Harness displays the compiled pipeline YAML for that execution, showing all resolved values.
Compare executions
You can compare the compiled execution YAML for two executions to see what changed between them. This comparison helps you identify the changes that may have caused different execution results or failures.
Perform the following steps to compare two pipeline executions:
Navigate to your pipeline and select Execution History.
Locate an execution that you want to compare, select More Options (⋮), and then select Compare YAML or Compare Pipeline Executions.
The execution where you selected More Options is automatically selected. If you do not want to compare this execution, deselect it and select a different execution.
Select another execution that you want to compare.
Select Compare.
Harness produces a diff of the pipeline YAML for the two executions. This diff helps you identify the changes between executions, and it can help with troubleshooting execution failures or unexpected behavior.
Next steps
Download execution logs: Download logs from pipeline executions for offline analysis and troubleshooting.
Retry failed executions: Resume pipeline executions from any successful or failed stage.
Troubleshoot pipeline executions: Diagnose and resolve common pipeline execution issues.
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