Skip to content
Latchkey

Spinnaker "Stage ... failed" pipeline error in CI

Spinnaker marked a stage as TERMINAL because one of its tasks reported failure. The pipeline halts at that stage and the details tab holds the underlying task exception that actually stopped it.

What this error means

A CI-triggered Spinnaker pipeline stops with "Stage 'Deploy' failed" (or the stage name you gave it) and the execution shows a red TERMINAL status. The stage details expose the failing task.

Spinnaker
Exception ( Deploy )
Stage Deploy in pipeline deploy-prod failed.
Status: TERMINAL

Common causes

A task inside the stage reported failure

Stages are made of tasks (bake, deploy, monitor). If any task returns TERMINAL, Orca marks the whole stage failed and stops the pipeline.

The stage was configured to halt the pipeline on failure

With "halt the entire pipeline" set on failure, a single stage error stops everything rather than continuing or branching.

How to fix it

Open the stage details and read the failing task

  1. Open the execution in Deck and expand the red stage.
  2. Read the "Exception" block in the stage details for the real task error.
  3. Fix the underlying task (bake, deploy, or monitor) and re-trigger from CI.

Choose an explicit failure strategy

Set the stage "If stage fails" option deliberately so a known-flaky stage does not stop the whole pipeline unexpectedly.

Spinnaker stage config
# In the stage config, under "Execution Options":
# If stage fails: [halt the entire pipeline | halt this branch | ignore the failure]

How to prevent it

  • Set a deliberate failure strategy on every stage.
  • Surface the failing task exception in your CI logs, not just "Stage failed".
  • Add a Manual Judgment before irreversible stages so a bad deploy pauses.

Frequently asked questions

What causes ""Stage failed""?
Stages are made of tasks (bake, deploy, monitor). If any task returns TERMINAL, Orca marks the whole stage failed and stops the pipeline.
How do I fix "Stage failed"?
Open the stage details and read the failing task

Related guides

References

Latchkey auto-heals failures like this one - detected, fixed, and retried without you. Start free → 30-day trial · No credit card