fabro/docs/execution/observability.mdx

---
title: "Observability"
description: "How to monitor, inspect, and analyze workflow runs"
---

Fabro captures a structured event for every significant action during a workflow run. These events cover stage execution, agent tool calls, retries, routing, sandbox lifecycle, git checkpoints, retro generation, and more.

## Event stream

Every workflow run emits a sequence of canonical **run event envelopes** that are:

- Stored durably in the run store
- Broadcast over SSE to connected API clients
- Stored for later analysis and retro generation
- Rendered by CLI progress and log tooling
- Optionally materialized into JSONL by export/debug paths

### Event names

Event names use lowercase dot notation, for example:

- `run.started`
- `stage.started`
- `stage.completed`
- `agent.tool.started`
- `agent.tool.completed`
- `sandbox.ready`
- `parallel.branch.completed`

### Envelope format

Each serialized event envelope has a stable JSON shape:

```json
{
  "id": "01960d0c-5d16-7d6e-8f61-9fd6f4a532b5",
  "ts": "2026-03-30T12:00:01.000Z",
  "run_id": "01JQ...",
  "event": "agent.tool.started",
  "session_id": "ses_child",
  "parent_session_id": "ses_parent",
  "node_id": "implement",
  "node_label": "Implement",
  "properties": {
    "tool_name": "shell",
    "tool_call_id": "call_1",
    "arguments": {"command": "cargo test"}
  }
}
```

Envelope fields:

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `id` | Unique event id |
| `ts` | UTC timestamp |
| `run_id` | Workflow run id |
| `event` | Event name |
| `session_id` | Session that emitted the event, when applicable |
| `parent_session_id` | Immediate parent session for forwarded child events |
| `node_id` | Node or branch id, when applicable |
| `node_label` | Human-facing label for `node_id`, when applicable |
| `properties` | Event-specific payload |

Only `id`, `ts`, `run_id`, and `event` are always present. Optional fields are omitted when they do not apply.

## Reading the event stream

Because event payload lives in `properties`, most shell queries should look there.

```bash
# Count tool calls in a run
fabro logs 01JKXYZ... | jq -r 'select(.event == "agent.tool.started") | .properties.tool_name' | wc -l

# Find stage failures
fabro logs 01JKXYZ... | jq 'select(.event == "stage.failed")'

# See which edges were taken
jq '{from: .properties.from_node, to: .properties.to_node, label: .properties.label}' \
  <(fabro logs 01JKXYZ...) | head
```

If you need files on disk for offline analysis, `fabro dump` exports `events.jsonl` plus run-state projections.

## Event categories

Common categories include:

| Category | Example events |
|---|---|
| Run lifecycle | `run.started`, `run.completed`, `run.failed`, `run.notice` |
| Stage lifecycle | `stage.started`, `stage.completed`, `stage.failed`, `stage.retrying` |
| Agent activity | `agent.message`, `agent.tool.started`, `agent.warning`, `agent.sub.spawned` |
| Routing | `edge.selected`, `loop.restart`, `parallel.started` |
| Git and checkpoints | `checkpoint.completed`, `git.commit`, `git.push` |
| Setup and sandbox | `sandbox.initializing`, `sandbox.ready`, `setup.started` |
| Retro | `retro.started`, `retro.completed`, `retro.failed` |

## Sub-agent visibility

Sub-agent activity now appears as normal agent events with session linkage:

- `session_id` identifies the child session
- `parent_session_id` identifies its immediate parent

Lifecycle events such as `agent.sub.spawned` and `agent.sub.completed` are emitted by the parent session. Tool calls and other child activity are forwarded with their original `session_id`.

## Real-time monitoring

### API: Server-Sent Events

When running workflows through the API server, subscribe to the [run events endpoint](/api-reference/runs/stream-run-events). Each SSE payload is a serialized run event envelope in the same shape used by `fabro logs` and `events.jsonl` exports.

### Web UI

The web frontend consumes the SSE stream automatically and shows stage progress, tool calls, and human interaction as they happen.

<Frame caption="The Stages tab shows the full agent conversation including tool calls and responses.">
  <img src="/images/web/run-stages.png" alt="Fabro web UI run stages showing agent conversation with tool calls" />
</Frame>

### CLI progress

The CLI renders live progress from the same envelope format. This is written to stderr so stdout remains pipe-friendly.

## Post-run analysis

Post-run analysis surfaces include:

| Surface | Description |
|---|---|
| `fabro logs <RUN>` | Full event envelope stream as NDJSON |
| `fabro inspect <RUN>` | Current durable run state, including run/start/checkpoint/conclusion records |
| `fabro dump --output <DIR> <RUN>` | Exported `events.jsonl` plus reconstructed JSON and node files |

See [retros](/execution/retros), [stages](/api-reference/run-internals/list-run-stages), and [turns](/api-reference/run-internals/list-stage-turns) for higher-level analysis views built on top of this event stream.