PTR Telemetry Blackout: Blocking Autonomous Monitoring

The Screeps bot is currently facing a critical issue: a sustained telemetry blackout. This blackout is preventing autonomous performance monitoring, which is crucial for the bot's operation. In this article, we'll delve into the analysis of this problem, its impact, and the recommended actions to resolve it.

Analysis Summary

At the heart of the issue is a complete PTR telemetry blackout. This means that the Screeps bot is receiving empty stats responses from the API. This creates a state of sustained operational blindness across all monitoring cycles. It's a critical anomaly that needs immediate attention to restore autonomous performance capabilities. Telemetry data is the lifeblood of any autonomous system, providing the necessary feedback for informed decision-making and optimization. Without it, the bot is essentially flying blind, unable to adapt to changing circumstances or identify potential issues.

This blackout has far-reaching implications for the bot's functionality. It prevents the assessment of CPU timeout recurrence patterns, which are essential for maintaining efficient operation. It also hinders the validation of performance optimization effectiveness, making it difficult to gauge the impact of any improvements made to the bot's code or architecture. In essence, the telemetry blackout undermines the very foundation of the bot's autonomous nature. It transforms a self-regulating system into one that is reliant on manual intervention, negating the benefits of automation. The criticality of this issue cannot be overstated, as it directly affects the bot's ability to function as intended.

Evidence

Several pieces of evidence point to the severity and persistence of this issue:

• PTR Stats Endpoint: The designated endpoint for telemetry data, https://screeps.com/api/user/stats?interval=180, consistently returns empty stats.
• API Response Pattern: The API responds with an HTTP 200 OK status, but the content is {"ok": 1, "stats": {}}. This indicates that the API is functioning, but no telemetry data is being returned.
• Fetch Timestamp: The issue was observed as of 2025-10-26T05:02:43.388Z.
• Duration: This is an ongoing sustained blackout, as documented in issues #351, #331, and #345.
• Bot Status: The bot, v0.7.21, was deployed successfully but produces zero telemetry.
• Infrastructure Status: While guard workflows have been modernized, telemetry collection remains unchanged, suggesting the issue lies elsewhere.

Deep Dive into Telemetry Failure

To truly understand the gravity of the situation, let's delve deeper into the evidence. The PTR Stats Endpoint, the primary source of performance data, is consistently failing to deliver meaningful information. This endpoint should provide a stream of metrics that reflect the bot's activity, resource consumption, and overall health. However, the persistent delivery of empty stats indicates a fundamental breakdown in the telemetry pipeline. The API Response Pattern further confirms this, revealing that while the connection is established and the server acknowledges the request, the data itself is absent. This pattern suggests that the issue is not a simple network outage or server error, but rather a problem within the data collection or transmission process itself.

The temporal aspect of the issue is also crucial. The Fetch Timestamp marks a specific point in time when the blackout was confirmed, but the fact that it's an ongoing issue, as documented in multiple reports, suggests a persistent problem. The successful deployment of the bot (v0.7.21) adds another layer of complexity. It implies that the core functionality of the bot is intact, but the telemetry system is somehow disconnected. The infrastructure status, with its modernized guard workflows but unchanged telemetry collection, further narrows down the potential causes. It suggests that the issue is not related to recent infrastructure changes, but rather to a more fundamental aspect of the telemetry system itself.

Impact Assessment

The impact of this telemetry blackout is CRITICAL. The complete loss of operational visibility has severe consequences:

• Prevents Assessment of CPU Timeout Recurrence Patterns: Issues #340, #329, #315, and #287 highlight the importance of monitoring CPU timeouts. Without telemetry, identifying and addressing these patterns is impossible.
• Hinders Validation of Performance Optimization Effectiveness: Any attempts to optimize the bot's performance cannot be validated without telemetry data.
• Disables All PTR-Based Automated Decision-Making Systems: The lack of data paralyzes any systems that rely on real-time performance metrics.
• Obstructs Strategic Analysis for Bot Improvements and Architectural Changes: Long-term improvements require a clear understanding of the bot's performance, which is impossible without telemetry.

Unpacking the Critical Impact

The critical nature of this telemetry blackout cannot be overstated. The consequences extend beyond mere inconvenience; they strike at the heart of the bot's autonomous capabilities. Let's dissect each point of impact to fully appreciate the severity of the situation. First, the inability to assess CPU timeout recurrence patterns is a major concern. CPU timeouts are a common challenge in complex systems like Screeps bots, and understanding their frequency and causes is crucial for maintaining smooth operation. Without telemetry, these timeouts become invisible, making it impossible to diagnose their root causes or implement effective solutions. This can lead to unpredictable performance fluctuations and even system instability. Second, the validation of performance optimization effectiveness is entirely dependent on telemetry data. When developers make changes to the bot's code or architecture, they need a reliable way to measure the impact of those changes. Telemetry provides the necessary metrics, such as CPU usage, memory consumption, and execution time, to determine whether an optimization has been successful. Without this feedback loop, optimization efforts become guesswork, and there's no guarantee that changes are actually improving performance. Third, the disabling of all PTR-based automated decision-making systems is a direct consequence of the telemetry blackout. These systems rely on real-time performance metrics to make informed decisions about resource allocation, task prioritization, and overall strategy. When telemetry data is absent, these systems are effectively blind, unable to adapt to changing conditions or respond to unexpected events. This can lead to suboptimal performance and even system failures. Finally, the obstruction of strategic analysis for bot improvements and architectural changes is a long-term concern. Building a robust and efficient bot requires a deep understanding of its performance characteristics over time. Telemetry data provides the historical perspective needed to identify bottlenecks, anticipate future challenges, and make informed decisions about architectural changes. Without this long-term view, development efforts become reactive rather than proactive, hindering the bot's ability to evolve and adapt to new challenges.

Recommended Actions

To address this critical issue, the following actions are recommended:

1. Emergency Bot Console Verification: Gain direct access to the Screeps console to verify the bot's operational status.
2. Stats Collection Investigation: Examine the Memory.stats structure and the StatsCollector integration to identify potential issues.
3. Runtime Analysis: Review the main loop execution and stats generation logic to pinpoint the source of the blackout.
4. Alternative Monitoring: Implement console-based telemetry as an emergency fallback.

Detailed Action Plan for Resolution

To effectively address this critical telemetry blackout, a multi-faceted action plan is required. Each recommended action plays a crucial role in diagnosing and resolving the issue, and they should be pursued in a coordinated manner. Let's delve into the specifics of each action. First, Emergency Bot Console Verification is paramount. Gaining direct access to the Screeps console provides a real-time view into the bot's operational status, bypassing the broken telemetry pipeline. This allows for immediate assessment of the bot's health, resource consumption, and any error messages or warnings that might be present. By directly observing the bot's internal state, developers can gain valuable insights into the nature of the problem and potentially identify the root cause. Second, a thorough Stats Collection Investigation is necessary. This involves examining the Memory.stats structure, which is where the bot stores its performance metrics, and the StatsCollector integration, which is responsible for gathering and transmitting those metrics. By scrutinizing these components, developers can identify potential issues such as data corruption, incorrect data aggregation, or failures in the transmission process. This investigation should involve careful review of the code, debugging, and potentially the use of logging tools to track the flow of data. Third, a comprehensive Runtime Analysis is crucial. This involves reviewing the main loop execution, which is the heart of the bot's operation, and the stats generation logic, which is responsible for producing the telemetry data. By analyzing these processes, developers can identify potential bottlenecks, errors, or inefficiencies that might be contributing to the blackout. This analysis should involve a deep dive into the code, potentially using debugging tools to step through the execution and identify points of failure. Finally, the implementation of Alternative Monitoring is a critical fallback measure. In the absence of a functioning telemetry system, the bot is operating in the dark. Implementing console-based telemetry, which involves logging key performance metrics directly to the console, provides an emergency means of monitoring the bot's behavior. While this is not a long-term solution, it offers a crucial level of visibility during the troubleshooting process and allows developers to assess the impact of any fixes or changes they implement.

Monitoring Validation

To ensure that the issue is resolved, the following validation steps are necessary:

• Success criteria: A non-empty stats object from the PTR endpoint.
• Validation method: Comparison with reports/screeps-stats/latest.json snapshots.
• Threshold: >10% telemetry availability restoration indicates partial recovery.

Defining Success and Measuring Progress

To effectively address the critical telemetry blackout, it's essential to define clear success criteria and establish a robust method for measuring progress. The primary success criterion is the restoration of a non-empty stats object from the PTR endpoint. This signifies that the telemetry pipeline is once again functioning and delivering meaningful data. However, simply receiving a non-empty object is not enough. It's crucial to ensure the data is accurate, consistent, and representative of the bot's actual performance. To validate the data, a comparison with reports/screeps-stats/latest.json snapshots is recommended. These snapshots provide a historical baseline of telemetry data, allowing developers to compare current metrics with past performance. This comparison can help identify anomalies or inconsistencies in the restored telemetry stream. The validation method involves a detailed analysis of the data, looking for trends, patterns, and any deviations from expected behavior. The threshold of >10% telemetry availability restoration indicates partial recovery. This means that at least 10% of the expected telemetry data is being successfully collected and transmitted. While this is a significant step forward, it's important to emphasize that partial recovery is not complete resolution. The goal is to achieve 100% telemetry availability, ensuring that all aspects of the bot's performance are being accurately monitored. The >10% threshold serves as a benchmark for initial progress and a signal that the troubleshooting efforts are on the right track. It also provides a tangible metric for measuring the effectiveness of any fixes or changes implemented. Once partial recovery is achieved, further validation and monitoring are necessary to ensure sustained telemetry availability and accurate data reporting. This may involve ongoing comparisons with historical snapshots, as well as the implementation of automated alerts to detect any future disruptions in the telemetry stream. By carefully defining success criteria and establishing a robust validation method, developers can effectively track progress and ensure that the telemetry blackout is fully resolved.

Conclusion

The sustained telemetry blackout is a critical issue that demands immediate attention. By following the recommended actions and diligently monitoring the results, we can restore autonomous performance monitoring and ensure the continued success of the Screeps bot. Remember, telemetry is the eyes and ears of an autonomous system, and without it, the bot is effectively blind. Restoring this vital function is paramount to the bot's long-term health and performance.

For more information on Screeps and bot development, visit the official Screeps website.

Generated by Screeps Monitoring - Run: https://github.com/ralphschuler/.screeps-gpt/actions/runs/18813284732