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[deep-report] Treat zero-byte rpc-messages.jsonl as an MCP telemetry failure instead of silent warning #33347

Description

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Problem

When an MCP-enabled run publishes rpc-messages.jsonl but the file is zero bytes, the post-run telemetry analysis currently classifies it as a warning artifact and the run still appears successful.

Observed in the 2026-05-19 Daily Observability Report (#33174): §26060881909 Contribution Check published a 0-byte rpc-messages.jsonl, contributed no MCP events, and surfaced only as a quiet warning.

Why This Matters

MCP telemetry is one of the few signals we have that an MCP server actually did work during the run. A 0-byte file indicates either:

  • The MCP server never started
  • The MCP server crashed before any RPC happened
  • The capture pipeline broke

All three are real failures. Treating them as warnings keeps the dashboard green while underlying capability is silently degraded.

Proposed Fix

Add a post-run assertion (in the artifact-collection step or downstream analyzer) that:

  1. Detects when rpc-messages.jsonl is present but zero bytes.
  2. Emits an explicit error (not warning) so the run is flagged.
  3. Optionally captures agent-stdio.log excerpts that name MCP server initialization status.

Expected impact

Reduces false-green runs and surfaces the actual rate of MCP telemetry failures. Recurring observability gap flagged in #33174 trend data (improved 2 → 1 run/day, but still non-zero).

Suggested agent / effort

Copilot — Small (~20 line check + test).

Source

DeepReport intelligence run, 2026-05-19. See discussion #33174 recommendation #2.

Generated by 🔬 DeepReport - Intelligence Gathering Agent · ● 23.5M · ◷

  • expires on May 21, 2026, 4:04 PM UTC

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