From 8bc84859a45265feaccf4624d38915ec6df3516e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jonathan Marler <johnnymarler@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2026 11:00:01 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Report exit code when a node action fails without reporting
 an error

Report the exit code when a node or docker action exits non-zero but recorded no
error of its own, instead of failing the step with an empty log. A crash, an OOM
kill, or an external termination can end the process before it reports anything.
Actions that already report their failure are left alone. ScriptHandler already
does this for `run:` steps.

This is the symptom in actions/cache#1754, where Windows runners die inside
actions/cache with no output at all. The likely cause is the V8 Maglev crash
worked around in #4447 (nodejs/node#62260), which kills node before any
JavaScript runs. Reporting the exit code surfaces it as 0xC0000409.

GetErrorCount() is compared before and after the run because embedded steps write
to a collector shared with the enclosing context.
---
 src/Runner.Worker/ExecutionContext.cs                 | 8 ++++++++
 src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/ContainerActionHandler.cs  | 6 ++++++
 src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs | 7 +++++++
 3 files changed, 21 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/Runner.Worker/ExecutionContext.cs b/src/Runner.Worker/ExecutionContext.cs
index 0f9410821c6..4a96103fb43 100644
--- a/src/Runner.Worker/ExecutionContext.cs
+++ b/src/Runner.Worker/ExecutionContext.cs
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ public interface IExecutionContext : IRunnerService
         void FlushDeferredOutcomeConclusion();
 
         void AddIssue(Issue issue, ExecutionContextLogOptions logOptions);
+        int GetErrorCount();
         void Progress(int percentage, string currentOperation = null);
         void UpdateDetailTimelineRecord(TimelineRecord record);
 
@@ -238,6 +239,13 @@ private ExecutionContext(ExecutionContext parent, bool embedded)
         // as its enclosing execution context.
         public bool IsEmbedded { get; private init; }
 
+        public int GetErrorCount()
+        {
+            return IsEmbedded
+                ? (_embeddedIssueCollector?.Count(x => x.Type == IssueType.Error) ?? 0)
+                : _record.ErrorCount;
+        }
+
         public TaskResult? Result
         {
             get
diff --git a/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/ContainerActionHandler.cs b/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/ContainerActionHandler.cs
index 099495cb464..4a74634f68c 100644
--- a/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/ContainerActionHandler.cs
+++ b/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/ContainerActionHandler.cs
@@ -266,10 +266,16 @@ public async Task RunAsync(ActionRunStage stage)
                 using (var stdoutManager = new OutputManager(ExecutionContext, ActionCommandManager, container))
                 using (var stderrManager = new OutputManager(ExecutionContext, ActionCommandManager, container))
                 {
+                    var errorCountBeforeRun = ExecutionContext.GetErrorCount();
                     var runExitCode = await dockerManager.DockerRun(ExecutionContext, container, stdoutManager.OnDataReceived, stderrManager.OnDataReceived);
                     ExecutionContext.Debug($"Docker Action run completed with exit code {runExitCode}");
                     if (runExitCode != 0)
                     {
+                        if (ExecutionContext.GetErrorCount() == errorCountBeforeRun)
+                        {
+                            ExecutionContext.Error($"Docker Action run completed with exit code {runExitCode}.");
+                        }
+
                         ExecutionContext.Result = TaskResult.Failed;
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs b/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs
index 85ff32777f7..5cdacbba45e 100644
--- a/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs
+++ b/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs
@@ -160,6 +160,8 @@ public async Task RunAsync(ActionRunStage stage)
                 StepHost.OutputDataReceived += stdoutManager.OnDataReceived;
                 StepHost.ErrorDataReceived += stderrManager.OnDataReceived;
 
+                var errorCountBeforeRun = ExecutionContext.GetErrorCount();
+
                 // Execute the process. Exit code 0 should always be returned.
                 // A non-zero exit code indicates infrastructural failure.
                 // Task failure should be communicated over STDOUT using ## commands.
@@ -188,6 +190,11 @@ public async Task RunAsync(ActionRunStage stage)
                     ExecutionContext.Debug($"Node Action run completed with exit code {exitCode}");
                     if (exitCode != 0)
                     {
+                        if (ExecutionContext.GetErrorCount() == errorCountBeforeRun)
+                        {
+                            ExecutionContext.Error($"Node Action run completed with exit code {exitCode}.");
+                        }
+
                         ExecutionContext.Result = TaskResult.Failed;
                     }
                 }