# Tail Workers Gotchas & Debugging

## Critical Pitfalls

### 1. Not Using `ctx.waitUntil()`

**Problem:** Async work doesn't complete or tail Worker times out  
**Cause:** Handlers exit immediately; awaiting blocks processing  
**Solution:**

```typescript
// ❌ WRONG - fire and forget
export default {
  async tail(events) {
    fetch(endpoint, { body: JSON.stringify(events) })
  },
}

// ❌ WRONG - blocking await
export default {
  async tail(events, env, ctx) {
    await fetch(endpoint, { body: JSON.stringify(events) })
  },
}

// ✅ CORRECT
export default {
  async tail(events, env, ctx) {
    ctx.waitUntil(
      (async () => {
        await fetch(endpoint, { body: JSON.stringify(events) })
        await processMore()
      })()
    )
  },
}
```

### 2. Missing `tail()` Handler

**Problem:** Producer deployment fails  
**Cause:** Worker in `tail_consumers` doesn't export `tail()` handler  
**Solution:** Ensure `export default { async tail(events, env, ctx) { ... } }`

### 3. Outcome vs HTTP Status

**Problem:** Filtering by wrong status  
**Cause:** `outcome` is script execution status, not HTTP status

```typescript
// ❌ WRONG
if (event.outcome === 500) {
  /* never matches */
}

// ✅ CORRECT
if (event.outcome === 'exception') {
  /* script threw */
}
if (event.event?.response?.status === 500) {
  /* HTTP 500 */
}
```

### 4. Timestamp Units

**Problem:** Dates off by 1000x  
**Cause:** Timestamps are epoch milliseconds, not seconds

```typescript
// ❌ WRONG: const date = new Date(event.eventTimestamp * 1000);
// ✅ CORRECT: const date = new Date(event.eventTimestamp);
```

### 5. Type Name Mismatch

**Problem:** Using `TailItem` type  
**Cause:** Old docs used `TailItem`, SDK uses `TraceItem`

```typescript
import type { TraceItem } from '@cloudflare/workers-types'
export default {
  async tail(events: TraceItem[], env, ctx) {
    /* ... */
  },
}
```

### 6. Excessive Logging Volume

**Problem:** Unexpected high costs  
**Cause:** Invoked on EVERY producer request  
**Solution:** Sample events

```typescript
export default {
  async tail(events, env, ctx) {
    if (Math.random() > 0.1) return // 10% sample
    ctx.waitUntil(sendToEndpoint(events))
  },
}
```

### 7. Serialization Issues

**Problem:** `JSON.stringify()` fails  
**Cause:** `log.message` is `unknown[]` with non-serializable values  
**Solution:**

```typescript
const safePayload = events.map((e) => ({
  ...e,
  logs: e.logs.map((log) => ({
    ...log,
    message: log.message.map((m) => {
      try {
        return JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(m))
      } catch {
        return String(m)
      }
    }),
  })),
}))
```

### 8. Missing Error Handling

**Problem:** Tail Worker silently fails  
**Cause:** No try/catch  
**Solution:**

```typescript
ctx.waitUntil(
  (async () => {
    try {
      await fetch(env.ENDPOINT, { body: JSON.stringify(events) })
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('Tail error:', error)
      await env.FALLBACK_KV.put(`failed:${Date.now()}`, JSON.stringify(events))
    }
  })()
)
```

### 9. Deployment Order

**Problem:** Producer deployment fails  
**Cause:** Tail consumer not deployed yet  
**Solution:** Deploy tail consumer FIRST

```bash
cd tail-worker && wrangler deploy
cd ../producer && wrangler deploy
```

### 10. No Event Retry

**Problem:** Events lost when handler fails  
**Cause:** Failed invocations NOT retried  
**Solution:** Implement fallback storage (see #8)

## Debugging

**View logs:** `wrangler tail my-tail-worker`

**Incremental testing:**

1. Verify receipt: `console.log('Events:', events.length)`
2. Inspect structure: `console.log(JSON.stringify(events[0], null, 2))`
3. Add external call with `ctx.waitUntil()`

**Monitor dashboard:** Check invocation count (matches producer?), error rate, CPU time

## Testing

Add test endpoint to producer:

```typescript
export default {
  async fetch(request) {
    if (request.url.includes('/test')) {
      console.log('Test log')
      throw new Error('Test error')
    }
    return new Response('OK')
  },
}
```

Trigger: `curl https://producer.example.workers.dev/test`

## Common Errors

| Error                         | Cause            | Solution                 |
| ----------------------------- | ---------------- | ------------------------ |
| "Tail consumer not found"     | Not deployed     | Deploy tail Worker first |
| "No tail handler"             | Missing `tail()` | Add to default export    |
| "waitUntil is not a function" | Missing `ctx`    | Add `ctx` parameter      |
| Timeout                       | Blocking await   | Use `ctx.waitUntil()`    |

## Performance Notes

- Max 100 events per invocation
- Each consumer receives all events independently
- CPU limits same as regular Workers
- For high volume, use Durable Objects batching