tkn pac describe

Describe a Pipelines-as-Code Repository and show detailed information about its associated PipelineRuns.

Synopsis

tkn pac describe [repository-name] [flags]
tkn pac desc [repository-name] [flags]

Description

The describe command provides detailed information about a Repository CRD including:

Repository metadata (name, namespace, URL)
All PipelineRuns associated with the repository
Run status, timing, and links
Failure analysis - Shows last 10 lines of failed tasks with error highlighting
Optional Kubernetes events for debugging

It’s particularly useful for debugging failed PipelineRuns and understanding repository activity.

Usage Examples

# Select repository interactively
tkn pac describe

Arguments

repository-name

string

Repository name (optional - prompts if not provided)

Flags

-n, --namespace

string

Namespace containing the repository

-t, --target-pipelinerun

string

Show information for a specific PipelineRun only

--use-realtime

boolean

default:"false"

Display timestamps as RFC3339 instead of relative time

--show-events

boolean

default:"false"

Show Kubernetes events associated with the repositoryUseful for debugging issues that cannot be reported on the Git provider interface

Output Example

Basic Output

$ tkn pac describe myorg-app

Repository: myorg-app
Namespace:  production
URL:        https://github.com/myorg/app

PipelineRuns:

STATUS      EVENT          BRANCH  SHA      STARTED       DURATION  NAME
Succeeded   pull_request   main    a3c5e8d  2 hours ago   5m 23s    myorg-app-pr-125
Running     pull_request   feat    b1d4f2a  30 mins ago   2m 15s    myorg-app-pr-124
Failed      push           main    c7e9a1b  1 day ago     3m 45s    myorg-app-pr-123

With Failure Details

When the last PipelineRun failed, error details are automatically shown:

$ tkn pac describe myorg-app

Repository: myorg-app
Namespace:  production  
URL:        https://github.com/myorg/app

PipelineRuns:

STATUS    EVENT   BRANCH  SHA      STARTED     DURATION  NAME
Failed    push    main    c7e9a1b  1 hour ago  3m 45s    myorg-app-pr-123

Last PipelineRun Failed:

Task: run-tests
  ERROR: Tests failed with exit code 1
  === RUN   TestHandler
  --- FAIL: TestHandler (0.00s)
      handler_test.go:42: Expected status code 200, got 500
  FAIL
  exit status 1

Task: build-image  
  ERROR: Build failed: missing Dockerfile
  Error: stat Dockerfile: no such file or directory

With Events

$ tkn pac describe myorg-app --show-events

Repository: myorg-app
Namespace:  production
URL:        https://github.com/myorg/app

PipelineRuns:
STATUS      EVENT          BRANCH  SHA      STARTED       DURATION  NAME
Succeeded   pull_request   main    a3c5e8d  2 hours ago   5m 23s    myorg-app-pr-125

Events:

TYPE      REASON              AGE     FROM                 MESSAGE
Normal    Started             2h      tekton-controller    PipelineRun myorg-app-pr-125 started
Normal    Running             2h      tekton-controller    Tasks Completed: 1 (Failed: 0, Cancelled 0), Running: 1, Incomplete: 2
Normal    Succeeded           2h      tekton-controller    Tasks Completed: 4 (Failed: 0, Cancelled 0), Skipped: 0
Warning   Failed              1d      tekton-controller    PipelineRun myorg-app-pr-123 failed

Targeting Specific PipelineRun

$ tkn pac describe myorg-app -t myorg-app-pr-123

Repository: myorg-app
Namespace:  production
URL:        https://github.com/myorg/app

PipelineRuns:

STATUS    EVENT   BRANCH  SHA      STARTED     DURATION  NAME
Failed    push    main    c7e9a1b  1 hour ago  3m 45s    myorg-app-pr-123

PipelineRun Failure Details:

Task: run-tests
  ERROR: Tests failed with exit code 1
  ...

Column Descriptions

Column	Description
STATUS	PipelineRun status with color coding
EVENT	Event type (pull_request, push)
BRANCH	Target branch name
SHA	Commit SHA (first 7 characters, clickable)
STARTED	When the PipelineRun started
DURATION	Total execution time
NAME	PipelineRun name (clickable to logs)

Status Colors

The output uses colors to indicate status:

Green - Succeeded
Red - Failed
Yellow - Running, Pending
Gray - Cancelled, Skipped

Clickable Links

In modern terminals, links are clickable:

SHA - Opens commit in Git provider
NAME - Opens PipelineRun logs in console/dashboard

Use Ctrl+Click (Linux/Windows) or Cmd+Click (macOS).

Failure Analysis

When a PipelineRun fails, describe automatically:

Identifies failed tasks
Extracts last 10 lines of logs from each failed task
Highlights error patterns:
- ERROR
- FAILURE
- FATAL
- Failed
- Exit codes

Error Highlighting

Error keywords are highlighted in red for easy identification:

Task: run-tests
  ERROR: Tests failed with exit code 1  ← Highlighted in red
  === RUN   TestHandler
  --- FAIL: TestHandler (0.00s)         ← Highlighted in red
      handler_test.go:42: Expected status code 200, got 500
  FAIL                                   ← Highlighted in red

Kubernetes Events

With --show-events, see cluster-level events:

Event Types

Normal - Standard operations (Started, Running, Succeeded)
Warning - Issues or failures

Event Sources

tekton-controller - Tekton Pipeline controller
pipelinesascode-controller - PAC controller
kubelet - Kubernetes node agent

Common Events

Reason	Description
Started	PipelineRun execution started
Running	Tasks are executing
Succeeded	PipelineRun completed successfully
Failed	PipelineRun failed
PodScheduled	Pod scheduled on node
Pulling	Pulling container image
Pulled	Image pulled successfully

Event Limit

Shows up to 50 most recent events to avoid overwhelming output.

Time Formats

Relative Time (Default)

STARTED       DURATION
hours ago   5m 23s
mins ago   2m 15s
day ago     3m 45s

RFC3339 Format (—use-realtime)

STARTED                    DURATION
2024-03-15T14:30:00Z      5m 23s
2024-03-15T16:45:00Z      2m 15s
2024-03-14T09:15:00Z      3m 45s

Common Workflows

Debug Failed Pipeline

# See failure details
tkn pac describe myorg-app

# Include cluster events
tkn pac describe myorg-app --show-events

# View full logs
tkn pac logs myorg-app

Check Specific Run

# Describe specific PipelineRun
tkn pac describe myorg-app -t myorg-app-pr-123

# View its logs
tkn pac logs myorg-app
# Select myorg-app-pr-123 from list

Monitor Repository Activity

# Check all recent runs
tkn pac describe myorg-app

# With timestamps
tkn pac describe myorg-app --use-realtime

Compare Runs Across Repositories

# Check multiple repositories
tkn pac describe api-repo
tkn pac describe frontend-repo  
tkn pac describe docs-repo

Troubleshooting

Repository Not Found

Error: repositories.pipelinesascode.tekton.dev "myorg-app" not found

Solutions:

List repositories: tkn pac list
Check namespace: tkn pac list -A
Verify spelling

No PipelineRuns

If repository has no runs:

Repository: myorg-app
Namespace:  production
URL:        https://github.com/myorg/app

PipelineRuns:
(none)

Solutions:

Trigger a run by creating a PR or pushing code
Check webhook configuration: tkn pac webhook add
Verify .tekton/ directory exists in repository

Target PipelineRun Not Found

Error: cannot find target pipelinerun myorg-app-pr-999

Solutions:

List available runs: tkn pac describe myorg-app
Check PipelineRun name: kubectl get pr
Verify it belongs to this repository

Events Not Showing

# No events visible
tkn pac describe myorg-app --show-events

Possible causes:

Events expired (usually kept for 1 hour)
No recent activity
Insufficient RBAC permissions to view events

Permission Denied

Error: repositories.pipelinesascode.tekton.dev is forbidden

Solution: Request RBAC permissions to view repositories and PipelineRuns.

Environment Variables

TEKTON_DASHBOARD_URL

string

Tekton Dashboard URL for clickable linksExample:

export TEKTON_DASHBOARD_URL=https://dashboard.example.com
tkn pac describe myorg-app

tkn pac list - List all repositories
tkn pac logs - View full PipelineRun logs
tkn pr describe - Tekton CLI for PipelineRun details

Overview

Commands

​tkn pac describe

​Synopsis

​Description

​Usage Examples

​Arguments

​Flags

​Output Example

​Basic Output

​With Failure Details

​With Events

​Targeting Specific PipelineRun

​Column Descriptions

​Status Colors

​Clickable Links

​Failure Analysis

​Error Highlighting

​Kubernetes Events

​Event Types

​Event Sources

​Common Events

​Event Limit

​Time Formats

​Relative Time (Default)

​RFC3339 Format (—use-realtime)

​Common Workflows

​Debug Failed Pipeline

​Check Specific Run

​Monitor Repository Activity

​Compare Runs Across Repositories

​Troubleshooting

​Repository Not Found

​No PipelineRuns

​Target PipelineRun Not Found

​Events Not Showing

​Permission Denied

​Environment Variables

​Related Commands

​See Also

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

tkn pac describe

Synopsis

Description

Usage Examples

Arguments

Flags

Output Example

Basic Output

With Failure Details

With Events

Targeting Specific PipelineRun

Column Descriptions

Status Colors

Clickable Links

Failure Analysis

Error Highlighting

Kubernetes Events

Event Types

Event Sources

Common Events

Event Limit

Time Formats

Relative Time (Default)

RFC3339 Format (—use-realtime)

Common Workflows

Debug Failed Pipeline

Check Specific Run

Monitor Repository Activity

Compare Runs Across Repositories

Troubleshooting

Repository Not Found

No PipelineRuns

Target PipelineRun Not Found

Events Not Showing

Permission Denied

Environment Variables

Related Commands

See Also