temporalio / temporalio/sdk-php

[Question] How to debug the activity task startToClose timeout error?

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Question
Dominant language
PHP
Stars
421
Forks
64
Avg merge
1d 1h
Merged PRs (30d)
11

Description

We're receiving the activity startToClose timeout for our activity, written on PHP with the retry policy below:

Timeout 3m
Retry Policy Initial Interval 1s
Retry Policy Backoff Coefficient 3
Retry Policy Maximum Interval 10s
Retry Policy Maximum Attempts 30

The task, which timeouts, does nothing but going to database for selecting some data by indexed field and it actually does it, but after executing the activity code it hangs for no reason until 3 minutes timeout appears. Then retry policy comes to an action and retry task starts execution, it ends with timeout too and so on, and so on. Once it all the task attempts end with timeout is throws an activity exception permanently.

Could you please look through the JSON log from temporal workflow admin for such activity and advice what to do with it?
(We've already checked the deadline exceeded debugging cookbook https://docs.temporal.io/troubleshooting/deadline-exceeded-error ,but everything is alright from our side)

TaskFailed.json
WorkflowFailed.json

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the attached TaskFailed.json and WorkflowFailed.json, then compare the timeout and retry details with the linked deadline-exceeded troubleshooting cookbook. Done means determining why the PHP activity remains in start-to-close timeout or documenting the missing evidence needed to diagnose it.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
php
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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