name: log-retrieval
description: |
Retrieves and displays job logs from Buildkite. Use when user asks:
- "Show me the logs"
- "What did the build output?"
- "Get the logs from job X"
- "Search the logs for Y"
- "What happened in the test step?"
- /buildkite:logs

Note: For debugging failures, use build-debugging instead. Use this skill for viewing/searching logs without full failure analysis.

Log Retrieval

Retrieve and display job logs from Buildkite builds.

Available MCP Tools

Input Parsing

Parse from $ARGUMENTS or user's message:

Approach

1. Identify the job
2. If just build given, fetch build and list jobs
3. Match job by name/label if specified

4. Default to failed jobs if user asks about errors

5. Fetch logs with buildkite_read_logs

6. Get full output for the identified job

7. Present logs appropriately

8. For short logs: show entirely
9. For long logs: show relevant section (usually end)

10. Always use code blocks

11. Search if needed with buildkite_search_logs

12. When user is looking for specific content
13. Return matching lines with context

Output Format

## Logs: "Run Tests" (job abc-123)

​```
[timestamp] Installing dependencies...
[timestamp] Running test suite...
[timestamp] Error: Connection refused
[timestamp] Test failed: api.test.js
​```

Showing last 50 lines. Full log is 2,847 lines.

Search Output

When searching:

## Search: "error" in build 456

Found 3 matches:

**Line 234** (test step):
> Error: Cannot connect to database

**Line 567** (deploy step):
> Error: Permission denied

**Line 890** (cleanup step):
> Error: File not found (non-fatal)

When to Use This vs build-debugging

Example Interaction

User: Show me the logs from the failed test

1. Get build (from context or ask)
2. Find job with "test" in name that failed
3. Fetch logs with buildkite_read_logs
4. Display relevant portion in code block