Home Assistant Emby Bug Triage

Home Assistant Emby Bug Triage

Overview

Systematic investigation of bug reports to confirm, diagnose, and prepare fix recommendations.

This skill covers reproducing bugs locally, gathering evidence, performing root cause analysis, and updating GitHub issues with findings.

When to Use

• Issue has bug label but NOT confirmed
• Issue has ai-triaged and needs investigation
• Routed here by ha-emby-issue-selector
• User asks to "investigate" or "reproduce" a bug

The Investigation Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    BUG TRIAGE WORKFLOW                          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│  1. PARSE ISSUE ─────────────────────────────────────────────   │
│     Extract: versions, clients, steps, logs                    │
│                                                                 │
│  2. SETUP ENVIRONMENT ───────────────────────────────────────   │
│     Start HA, connect Emby, match reporter config              │
│                                                                 │
│  3. REPRODUCE ───────────────────────────────────────────────   │
│     Follow exact steps, document results                       │
│                                                                 │
│  4. GATHER EVIDENCE ─────────────────────────────────────────   │
│     Logs, API traces, screenshots, diagnostics                 │
│                                                                 │
│  5. ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS ─────────────────────────────────────   │
│     Trace code path, identify failure point                    │
│                                                                 │
│  6. UPDATE ISSUE ────────────────────────────────────────────   │
│     Add findings, labels, fix recommendation                   │
│                                                                 │
│  7. DECIDE NEXT STEP ────────────────────────────────────────   │
│     Fix now? Defer? Need more info?                            │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Step 1: Parse Issue Data

Read the issue and extract key information (matches bug report template fields):

# Get full issue details
gh issue view {N} --json title,body,labels,comments

Extract from issue body:

Document what's missing:

• No debug logs? → May need to request
• Vague steps? → May need clarification
• Old version? → May be fixed already

Step 2: Setup Local Environment

Home Assistant Devcontainer

# HA is available at localhost:8123 in devcontainer
# Check if running
curl -s http://localhost:8123/​api/ | head -1

Environment Variables (from .env):

# Required for HA API access
HOMEASSISTANT_URL=http://localhost:8123
HOMEASSISTANT_TOKEN=<from HA profile>

# Required for Emby testing
EMBY_URL=https://your-emby-server.example.com
EMBY_API_KEY=<from Emby dashboard>

Configure to Match Reporter

1. Check integration version matches:

   # Current version in manifest
   cat custom_components/​embymedia/​manifest.json | grep version
   

2. Configure similar options if relevant:

   • WebSocket enabled/​disabled
   • Scan interval
   • Ignored devices

3. Connect similar client types:

   • If reporter uses Android TV, test with Android TV
   • If reporter uses Web client, test with Web client

Enable Debug Logging

Add to HA configuration or via UI:

logger:
  default: warning
  logs:
    custom_components.embymedia: debug
    custom_components.embymedia.api: debug
    custom_components.embymedia.websocket: debug
    custom_components.embymedia.coordinator: debug

Step 3: Reproduce the Bug

Follow Exact Steps

Read reproduction steps from issue and follow exactly:

Reporter's steps:
1. Play a movie on Android TV client
2. Pause playback from HA
3. Wait 30 seconds
4. Try to resume from HA

My reproduction:
1. ✅ Playing movie on Android TV client
2. ✅ Called media_player.media_pause service
3. ✅ Waited 30 seconds
4. ❌ Resume works fine / ✅ Resume fails as reported

Document Results

Environment Differences to Note

• Different Emby server version?
• Different client type/​version?
• Different network configuration?
• Different HA installation type?
• Different integration options?

Step 4: Gather Evidence

Debug Logs

# From HA: Settings → System → Logs
# Or download via API:
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $HOMEASSISTANT_TOKEN" \
  "$HOMEASSISTANT_URL/​api/​error_log"

What to look for:

• Exceptions and tracebacks
• Warning messages
• Unexpected state transitions
• API errors
• WebSocket disconnections

API Traces

# Test specific Emby endpoint
curl -v "$EMBY_URL/​emby/​Sessions?api_key=$EMBY_API_KEY" 2>&1

# Check specific item
curl -v "$EMBY_URL/​emby/​Users/​{user_id}/​Items/​{item_id}?api_key=$EMBY_API_KEY"

Diagnostics Download

Settings → Devices & Services → Emby Media → ⋮ → Download diagnostics

Diagnostics contain:

• Server info (redacted)
• Active sessions
• Coordinator state
• Cache statistics
• WebSocket status
• Recent errors

Screenshots

Capture:

• HA entity state
• Emby client state
• Browser DevTools (Network tab for API calls)
• Error dialogs

Step 5: Root Cause Analysis

Trace the Code Path

1. Identify the entry point:

   • Service call? → services.py
   • Entity property? → media_player.py
   • Coordinator update? → coordinator.py
   • WebSocket event? → websocket.py

2. Follow the execution:

   # Example: Tracing media_pause
   # media_player.py:async_media_pause()
   #   → api.py:async_send_playback_command()
   #     → POST /​Sessions/​{id}/​Playing/​Pause
   

3. Identify failure point:

   • API returns error?
   • State not updated?
   • Exception thrown?
   • Wrong data format?

Common Root Causes

Check Related Code

# Find related code
grep -r "the_function_name" custom_components/​embymedia/

# Check recent changes to file
git log --oneline -10 -- custom_components/​embymedia/​media_player.py

# Check if similar issues exist
gh issue list --search "similar keywords" --state all

Step 6: Update Issue

Add Investigation Comment

gh issue comment {N} --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Investigation Results

### Environment
- **HA Version:** 2025.11.x (devcontainer)
- **Integration Version:** 0.4.0
- **Emby Version:** 4.9.x
- **Client Tested:** Android TV, Web

### Reproduction
- **Status:** ✅ Confirmed
- **Steps followed:** As reported
- **Behavior observed:** [Exact behavior seen]

### Evidence

<details>
<summary>Debug Logs</​summary>

[relevant log excerpts]

</​details>

### Root Cause Analysis

**Failure Point:** `media_player.py:245` in `async_media_pause()`

**Cause:** The session ID becomes stale when the WebSocket reconnects, but the entity still holds the old session ID.

**Code Path:**
1. WebSocket disconnects (server restart, network blip)
2. WebSocket reconnects, new session established
3. Entity still references old session ID
4. API call fails with 404 (session not found)

### Recommended Fix

**Approach:** Update entity session ID when coordinator receives new session data.

**Files to Change:**
- `custom_components/​embymedia/​media_player.py` - Add session ID refresh in `_handle_coordinator_update`
- `custom_components/​embymedia/​coordinator.py` - Emit session change event

**Complexity:** Medium

**Breaking Changes:** None

### Test Cases Needed
- [ ] Test session ID refresh on reconnect
- [ ] Test playback control after reconnect
- [ ] Test with forced WebSocket disconnect
EOF
)"

Update Labels

# Add confirmed label
gh issue edit {N} --add-label "confirmed"

# Remove investigation-related labels
gh issue edit {N} --remove-label "needs-reproduction"

# Add component label if not present
gh issue edit {N} --add-label "component: websocket"

If Cannot Reproduce

gh issue comment {N} --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Investigation Results

### Environment
- **HA Version:** 2025.11.x (devcontainer)
- **Integration Version:** 0.4.0
- **Emby Version:** 4.9.x

### Reproduction Attempt
- **Status:** ❌ Could not reproduce
- **Steps followed:** As reported
- **Behavior observed:** [What I saw instead]

### Environment Differences
- Reporter using HA OS, I'm using devcontainer
- Reporter using Emby 4.8.x, I have 4.9.x
- Different client version

### Next Steps
Could you please provide:
1. Full debug logs from when the issue occurs
2. Diagnostics download from the integration
3. Confirmation of exact client version

I'll investigate further once I have more details.
EOF
)"

# Add needs-info label
gh issue edit {N} --add-label "needs-info"

Step 7: Decide Next Step

Route to Implementation

If proceeding to fix:

# Update status
gh issue edit {N} --remove-label "status: investigating"
gh issue edit {N} --add-label "status: in-progress"

# Announce transition
gh issue comment {N} --body "Investigation complete. Proceeding to implementation."

Then use ha-emby-issue-executor skill.

Evidence Checklist

Before updating the issue, ensure you have:

• Reproduction status (confirmed / not reproduced)
• Environment details documented
• Debug logs captured (if reproduced)
• Root cause identified (if reproduced)
• Files to change identified
• Complexity estimate
• Test cases outlined

Related Skills

Cross-references:

• For label meanings → See ha-emby-github § "Label Reference"
• For HA async patterns → See ha-emby-integration § "Async Patterns"
• For media player states → See ha-emby-media-player § "State Mapping"

The Bottom Line

1. Parse issue thoroughly - Don't miss details
2. Match reporter's environment - As close as possible
3. Follow exact steps - Don't assume
4. Document everything - Logs, screenshots, traces
5. Find root cause - Don't just describe symptoms
6. Update issue completely - Findings, recommendation, next steps
7. Route appropriately - Fix now or gather more info