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Viewing execution details in the Step Functions console

You can view in-progress and past executions of workflows in the Executions section of the Step Functions console.

In the Executions details, you can view the state machine’s definition, execution status, ARN, number of state transitions, and the inputs and outputs for individual states in the workflow.

Standard workflow execution details are recorded in Step Functions, but the history of Express workflow executions are not. To record Express workflow executions, you must configure your Express state machines to send logs to Amazon CloudWatch. See Logging in CloudWatch Logs to set up logging for Step Functions.

The console experience to view both types of workflow executions is similar, but there are some limitations for Express workflows. See Standard and Express console experience differences.

Execution details overview

The execution details link and page title use the unique execution ID generated by Step Functions or the custom ID you provided when starting the workflow. The Execution Details page includes metrics and the following options to manage your state machine:

The Execution Details console page contains the following sections:

Execution summary

The Execution summary provides an overview of the execution details of your workflow, in the following tabs:

Error message

If your state machine execution failed, the Execution Details page displays an error message. Choose Cause or View step details in the error message to view the reason for execution failure or the step that caused the error.

If you choose View step details, Step Functions highlights the step that caused the error in the Step details, Graph view, and Table view tabs. If the step is a Task, Map, or Parallel state for which you've defined retries, the Step details pane displays the Retry tab for the step. Additionally, if you've redriven the execution, you can see the retries and redrive execution details in the Retries & redrives tab of the Step details pane.

From the Recover dropdown button on this error message, you can either redrive your unsuccessful executions or start a new execution. For more information, see Redriving state machines.

The error message for a failed state machine execution will be displayed on the Execution Details page. The error message will also have a link to the step that caused the execution failure.

View mode

The View mode section contains two different visualizations for your state machine. You can choose to view a graphic representation of the workflow, a table outlining the states in your workflow, or a list of the events associated with your state machine's execution:

Graph view

The Graph view mode displays a graphical representation of your workflow. A legend is included at the bottom that indicates the execution status of the state machine. It also contains buttons that let you zoom in, zoom out, center align the full workflow, or view the workflow in full-screen mode.

From the graph view, you can choose any step in your workflow to view details about its execution in the Step details component. When you chose a step in the Graph view, the Table view also shows that step. This is true in reverse as well. If you choose a step from Table view, the Graph view shows the same step.

If your state machine contains a Map state, Parallel state, or both, you can view their names in the workflow in the Graph view. In addition, for the Map state, the Graph view lets you move across different iterations of the Map state execution data. For example, if your Map state has five iterations and you want to view the execution data for the third and fourth iterations, do the following:

Finally, you can use the Export and Layout buttons to export the workflow graph as an SVG or PNG image. You can also switch between horizontal and vertical views of your workflow.

Table view

The Table view mode displays a tabular representation of the states in your workflow. In this View mode, you can see the details of each state that was executed in your workflow, including its name, the name of any resource it used (such as an Amazon Lambda function), and if the state executed successfully.

From this view, you can choose any state in your workflow to view details about its execution in the Step details component. When you chose a step in the Table view, the Graph view also shows that step. This is true in reverse as well. If you choose a step from Graph view, the Table view shows the same step.

You can also limit the amount of data displayed in the Table view mode by applying filters to the view. You can create a filter for a specific property, such as Status or Redrive attempt. For more information, see Examine executions.

By default, this mode displays the Name, Type, Status, Resource, and Started After columns. You can configure the columns you want to view using the Preferences dialog box. The selections that you make on this dialog box persist for future state machine executions until they are changed again.

If you add the Timeline column, the execution duration of each state is shown with respect to the runtime for the entire execution. This is displayed as a color-coded, linear timeline. This can help you identify any performance-related issues with a specific state's execution. The color-coded segments for each state on the timeline help you identify the state's execution status, such as in-progress, failed, or aborted.

For example, if you've defined execution retries for a state in your state machine, these retries are shown in the timeline. Red segments represent the failed Retry attempts, while light gray segments represent the BackoffRate between each Retry attempt.

If your state machine contains a Map state, Parallel state, or both, you can view their names in the workflow in Table view. For Map and Parallel states, the Table view mode displays the execution data for their iterations and parallel branches as nodes inside a tree view. You can choose each node in these states to view their individual details in the Step details section. For example, you can review the data for a specific Map state iteration that caused the state to fail. Expand the node for the Map state, and then view the status for each iteration in the Status column.

Step details

The Step details section opens up on the right when you choose a state in the Graph view or Table view. This section contains the following tabs, which provide you in-depth information about the selected state:

Events

The Events table displays the complete history for the selected execution as a list of events spanning multiple pages. Each page contains up to 25 events. This section also displays the total event count, which can help you determine if you exceeded the maximum event history count of 25,000 events.

By default, the results in the Events table are displayed in ascending order based on the Timestamp of the events. You can change the execution event history's sorting to descending order by clicking on the Timestamp column header.

In the Events table, each event is color-coded to indicate its execution status. For example, events that failed appear in red. To view additional details about an event, choose the arrow icon next to the event ID. Once open, the event details show the input, output, and resource invocation for the event.

In addition, in the Events table, you can apply filters to limit the execution event history results that are displayed. You can choose properties such as ID, or Redrive attempt. For more information, see Examine executions.

Standard and Express console experience differences

Standard workflows

The execution histories for Standard Workflows are always available for executions completed in the last 90 days.

Express workflows

For Express workflows, the Step Functions console retrieves log data gathered through a CloudWatch Logs log group to show execution history. The histories for executions completed in the last three hours are available by default. You can customize the time range. If you specify a larger time range which includes more execution events, the cost to scan the logs will increase. For more information, see Vended Logs under the Logs tab on the CloudWatch Pricing page and Logging in CloudWatch Logs.

Considerations and limitations for viewing Express workflow executions

When viewing Express workflow executions on the Step Functions console, keep in mind the following considerations and limitations:

Availability of Express workflow execution details relies on Amazon CloudWatch Logs

For Express workflows, their execution history and detailed execution information are gathered through CloudWatch Logs Insights. This information is kept in the CloudWatch Logs log group that you specify when you create the state machine. The state machine's execution history is shown under the Executions tab on the Step Functions console.

We recommend that you use the default log level of ALL for logging all execution event types. You can update the log level as required for your existing state machines when you edit them. For more information, see Using CloudWatch Logs to log execution history in Step Functions and Event log levels.

Partial Express workflow execution details are available if logging level is ERROR or FATAL

By default, the logging level for Express workflow executions is set to ALL. If you change the log level, the execution histories and execution details for completed executions won’t be affected. However, all new executions will emit logs based on the updated log level. For more information, see Using CloudWatch Logs to log execution history in Step Functions and Event log levels.

For example, if you change the log level from ALL to either ERROR or FATAL, the Executions tab on the Step Functions console only lists failed executions. In the Event view tab, the console shows only the event details for the state machine steps that failed.

We recommend that you use the default log level of ALL for logging all execution event types. You can update the log level as required for your existing state machines when you edit the state machine.

State machine definition for a prior execution can't be viewed after the state machine has been modified

State machine definitions for past executions are not stored for Express workflows. If you change your state machine definition, you can only view the state machine definition for executions using the most current definition.

For example, if you remove one or more steps from your state machine definition, Step Functions detects a mismatch between the definition and prior execution events. Because previous definitions are not stored for Express workflows, Step Functions can't display the state machine definition for executions run on an earlier version of the state machine definition. As a result, the Definition, Graph view, and Table view tabs are unavailable for executions run on previous versions of a state machine definition.