Add `observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing` to downgrade missing OTLP config to warnings by Copilot · Pull Request #32173 · github/gh-aw

Copilot · 2026-05-14T15:50:22Z

New Feature

What does this feature do?

This adds an observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing flag so workflows can continue when OTLP endpoint/header secrets resolve to empty values at runtime. Instead of failing gateway startup, gh-aw now logs a warning and skips OTLP gateway config for that run.

Why is this feature needed?

Current behavior is fail-fast when OTLP config is present but runtime values are missing (commonly unset secrets). This makes observability config brittle in shared/imported workflows where telemetry may be optional.

Implementation details

Frontmatter + schema support
- Added observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing to typed frontmatter (OTLPConfig) and JSON schema.
Runtime propagation
- Compiler now emits GH_AW_OTLP_IGNORE_IF_MISSING: true when the flag is enabled.
Gateway behavior change
- start_mcp_gateway.cjs now applies ignore-if-missing semantics:
  - missing/empty OTLP endpoint → warn and remove gateway.opentelemetry block (no hard failure),
  - empty OTLP headers → warn and continue without headers.
Docs update
- Added the new field and injected env var to the frontmatter reference.

observability:
  otlp:
    endpoint: ${{ secrets.OTLP_ENDPOINT }}
    headers:
      Authorization: ${{ secrets.OTLP_TOKEN }}
    ignore-if-missing: true

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

pelikhan · 2026-05-14T17:07:35Z

@copilot align ignore-if-missing with other popular actions field names

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-05-14T17:19:51Z

@copilot align ignore-if-missing with other popular actions field names

Updated in 08c78ed: this is now aligned to observability.otlp.if-missing with action-style values (error|warn|ignore), while keeping ignore-if-missing as a deprecated backward-compatible alias.

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

pelikhan · 2026-05-14T17:23:04Z

@copilot remove ignore-if-missing support or mention for this feature

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-05-14T17:32:31Z

@copilot remove ignore-if-missing support or mention for this feature

Done in b102478 (plus follow-up rename cleanup in b744988). ignore-if-missing support/mentions were removed from frontmatter types, schema, runtime parsing, tests, and docs; only observability.otlp.if-missing remains.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds opt-in handling for missing/empty OTLP endpoint and header values at workflow runtime. Instead of failing the MCP gateway when OTLP secrets resolve to empty strings, users can set an if-missing mode that lets the gateway proceed without OTLP configuration.

Changes:

New observability.otlp.if-missing frontmatter field (string enum: error / warn / ignore) plumbed through types, schema, and docs.
Compiler emits GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING: ignore into the workflow env when set to ignore.
start_mcp_gateway.cjs reads that env var and strips gateway.opentelemetry (or empty headers) with a warning instead of failing.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pkg/workflow/observability_otlp.go	New helpers to read `if-missing` from parsed and raw frontmatter and inject `GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING`.
pkg/workflow/observability_otlp_test.go	Go tests for the new helper and env-var injection path.
pkg/workflow/frontmatter_types.go	Adds `IfMissing` field to `OTLPConfig`.
pkg/parser/schemas/main_workflow_schema.json	Schema entry with enum `error`/`warn`/`ignore`.
docs/src/content/docs/reference/frontmatter.md	Documents the field and new env var.
actions/setup/js/start_mcp_gateway.cjs	Runtime: strips OTLP gateway block / empty headers under `ignore`, switches stdin payload to re-serialized JSON.
actions/setup/js/assign_agent_helpers.cjs	Comment-only update to reflect renamed field.

Note: PR description references an older ignore-if-missing: true boolean API and GH_AW_OTLP_IGNORE_IF_MISSING env var, which no longer match the shipped implementation.

Copilot's findings

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Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

actions/setup/js/start_mcp_gateway.cjs:346

The gateway stdin payload was previously the exact bytes read from stdin (mcpConfig); it is now JSON.stringify(configObj), which re-serializes the parsed JSON. This silently strips comments-of-formatting/whitespace, reorders keys to insertion order, and changes any numeric/string representations the gateway might rely on. For typical JSON this is fine, but the change is unconditional — it now happens even when if-missing: ignore is not configured. Consider only re-serializing when applyOTLPIgnoreIfMissing actually mutated configObj, to minimize the blast radius of this change.

  child.stdin.write(JSON.stringify(configObj));

Files reviewed: 7/7 changed files
Comments generated: 8

+	// IfMissing controls runtime behavior when OTLP endpoint/header values are
+	// missing (for example because a referenced secret is unset). Supported values:
+	//   - "error" (default): fail workflow startup
+	//   - "warn": keep OTLP config and continue (gateway may still fail with invalid OTLP config)
+	//   - "ignore": log a warning and skip OTLP gateway config
+	IfMissing string `json:"if-missing,omitempty"`


+              "enum": ["error", "warn", "ignore"],
+              "default": "error",
+              "description": "How to handle missing OTLP endpoint/header values at runtime (for example from unset secrets). 'error' fails workflow startup (default), 'warn' continues with OTLP config, and 'ignore' logs a warning and skips OTLP gateway configuration."


+  const headers = otelConfig["headers"];
+  if (typeof headers === "string" && headers.trim() === "") {
+    delete otelConfig["headers"];
+    core.info("WARNING: OTLP headers are missing/empty and GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING=ignore; continuing without MCP gateway OTLP headers.");
+  }


+  const endpoint = typeof otelConfig["endpoint"] === "string" ? otelConfig["endpoint"].trim() : "";
+  if (!endpoint) {
+    delete gateway["opentelemetry"];
+    core.info("WARNING: OTLP endpoint is missing/empty and GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING=ignore; skipping MCP gateway OTLP configuration.");
+    return;
+  }


+    core.info("WARNING: OTLP endpoint is missing/empty and GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING=ignore; skipping MCP gateway OTLP configuration.");
+    return;
+  }
+  const headers = otelConfig["headers"];
+  if (typeof headers === "string" && headers.trim() === "") {
+    delete otelConfig["headers"];
+    core.info("WARNING: OTLP headers are missing/empty and GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING=ignore; continuing without MCP gateway OTLP headers.");


+function applyOTLPIgnoreIfMissing(configObj) {
+  if (!isOTLPIfMissingIgnore(process.env.GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING)) {
+    return;
+  }
+  const gw = configObj.gateway;
+  if (!gw || typeof gw !== "object" || Array.isArray(gw)) {
+    return;
+  }
+  const gateway = /** @type {Record<string, unknown>} */ gw;
+  const otel = gateway["opentelemetry"];
+  if (!otel || typeof otel !== "object" || Array.isArray(otel)) {
+    return;
+  }
+  const otelConfig = /** @type {Record<string, unknown>} */ otel;
+  const endpoint = typeof otelConfig["endpoint"] === "string" ? otelConfig["endpoint"].trim() : "";
+  if (!endpoint) {
+    delete gateway["opentelemetry"];
+    core.info("WARNING: OTLP endpoint is missing/empty and GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING=ignore; skipping MCP gateway OTLP configuration.");
+    return;
+  }
+  const headers = otelConfig["headers"];
+  if (typeof headers === "string" && headers.trim() === "") {
+    delete otelConfig["headers"];
+    core.info("WARNING: OTLP headers are missing/empty and GH_AW_OTLP_IF_MISSING=ignore; continuing without MCP gateway OTLP headers.");
+  }
+}


+// getOTLPIgnoreIfMissing returns true when observability.otlp.if-missing is set
+// to "ignore".
+func getOTLPIgnoreIfMissing(config *FrontmatterConfig, frontmatter map[string]any) bool {
+	if config != nil && config.Observability != nil && config.Observability.OTLP != nil {
+		if isOTLPIfMissingIgnore(config.Observability.OTLP.IfMissing) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	if frontmatter == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	obsAny, ok := frontmatter["observability"]
+	if !ok {
+		return false
+	}
+	obsMap, ok := obsAny.(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return false
+	}
+	otlpAny, ok := obsMap["otlp"]
+	if !ok {
+		return false
+	}
+	otlpMap, ok := otlpAny.(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return false
+	}
+	if v, ok := otlpMap["if-missing"].(string); ok && isOTLPIfMissingIgnore(v) {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}


+func isOTLPIfMissingIgnore(mode string) bool {
+	switch strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(mode)) {
+	case "ignore":
+		return true
+	case "", "error", "warn":
+		return false
+	default:
+		// Unknown values are rejected by schema validation. Keep fail-closed behavior.
+		return false
+	}
+}


pelikhan · 2026-05-14T17:52:34Z

@copilot review all comments and all review pull request comments

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-05-14T18:06:09Z

@copilot review all comments and all review pull request comments

Done — I reviewed all PR/review comments and addressed the actionable items in commits 620b0d3, 6d7ad07, 74a4828, and 9da4fae.

Key fixes now in the branch include:

implemented if-missing: warn runtime behavior,
switched warning emission to core.warning,
handled empty OTLP headers for string/object/array forms,
renamed Go-side mode helper and added invalid-value diagnostics,
added JS unit tests for gateway helper behavior,
aligned schema/docs text with actual if-missing behavior and scope.

github-actions · 2026-05-14T18:54:49Z

@copilot review all comments — please address the 8 unresolved review threads and post a short summary of the remaining blockers once they are cleared.

Generated by PR Sous Chef · ◷

Add observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing support

4e6d14f

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and pelikhan May 14, 2026

Copilot AI changed the title ~~Add observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing warning behavior~~ Add observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing to downgrade missing OTLP config to warnings May 14, 2026

Copilot created this pull request from a session on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:51 View session

Copilot AI requested a review from pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:51

Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:51

Copilot started work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 17:07 View session

Align OTLP missing-config key with if-missing naming

08c78ed

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Clarify if-missing mode handling and add coverage

15c065c

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 17:23

Copilot started work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 17:23 View session

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits May 14, 2026 17:31

Remove ignore-if-missing alias support and references

b102478

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Rename OTLP if-missing helper for clarity

b744988

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 17:33

pelikhan marked this pull request as ready for review May 14, 2026 17:43

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings May 14, 2026 17:43

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 17:44 View session

Copilot AI reviewed May 14, 2026

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 17:52 View session

Copilot AI and others added 4 commits May 14, 2026 18:02

Address OTLP if-missing review feedback

620b0d3

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Incorporate validation feedback for OTLP gateway tests

6d7ad07

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Polish OTLP gateway helper docs and test isolation

74a4828

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Refine OTLP gateway helper tests and messaging

9da4fae

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 18:07

pelikhan merged commit ae86bb5 into main May 14, 2026

pelikhan deleted the copilot/add-observability-otlp-ignore-if-missing-flag branch May 14, 2026 19:14

github-actions Bot mentioned this pull request May 15, 2026

[docs] Update documentation for features from 2026-05-15 #32336

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Add `observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing` to downgrade missing OTLP config to warnings#32173

Add `observability.otlp.ignore-if-missing` to downgrade missing OTLP config to warnings#32173
pelikhan merged 9 commits into
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New Feature

What does this feature do?

Why is this feature needed?

Implementation details

Frontmatter + schema support

Runtime propagation

Gateway behavior change

Docs update

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pelikhan commented May 14, 2026

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Copilot AI commented May 14, 2026

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Pull request overview

Copilot's findings

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Copilot AI commented May 14, 2026 •

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