---
title: "CLI output and trace limitations"
description: "What each M3 line printed after a pytest run means, and which trace limitations are routine."
---

> M3 v0.2.22 · commit 8a40bcd54a604ae658a35eb96570925ccda78533.


# CLI output and trace limitations

## Lines printed after a run

| Line | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| `M3 run` | The run ID created by this invocation. | Use it with `--baseline` and `m3 upload`. |
| `M3 feedback` | Path of this run's `feedback.json`. | Read selected fields from this path. |
| `M3 verdicts` | Count of test cases per verdict. | Informational. |
| `M3 observations` | Tool-error results and completed executions in this run. | A tool error is a server result with `is_error=True`, not a test failure by itself. |
| `M3: no tests executed; skipped-only runs fail` | Every selected test was skipped or deselected, and the run fails. | Unskip or select a test. |
| `M3 execution timeout` | One execution reached a deadline. It is printed once per timed-out execution: `id`, `stage`, `elapsed`, `feedback`. | Informational. The run's result is the pytest outcome, so a test that expects a timeout can still pass. Inspect the execution's diagnostics when the timeout was not expected. |
| `M3 test manifest persistence was incomplete` | Pytest results were not fully saved. | Saved history for this run is incomplete; do not use it as a baseline. |
| `M3 required evaluations blocked finalization` | A `required=True` evaluation did not pass. | The run is not successful even if test code caught the exception. |
| `M3 CI excluded` | `m3 ci test` only: the number of tests excluded by markers with `ci=False`. | Informational. |
| `M3 feedback export failed` | `feedback.json` was not written. | The run's database records remain; rerun to get a feedback file. |

## Trace limitations

A trace's `limitations` list says which evidence M3 could not fully observe or save. Check it before treating a missing value as evidence of absence.

| Code | Where it appears | Routine? |
|---|---|---|
| `capture_incomplete` | Direct traces: always present. Every finalized direct trace records it, with `completeness` `partial` (`sdk/src/m3/direct_trace.py:604-605`). Agent traces: added when harness output was invalid, truncated, timed out, or duplicated. | Routine on direct traces. On agent traces, read the trace diagnostics before concluding that a call did not happen. |
| `capture_disabled` | Provider message and reasoning observations are dropped when provider-message capture is disabled (`harness/observation_sink.py:85-89`). Raw evidence is also not stored when raw capture is disabled (`:123-126`). | Routine when the corresponding capture is off. Other normalized harness observations are still recorded. |
| `partial_trace` | An ACP turn failed after recording only part of its evidence (`harness/acp.py:1730`). | No. The turn's evidence is incomplete. |
| `cleanup_failed` | A server process or harness could not be shut down cleanly. | No. Results stand, but check for leftover processes. |
| `persistence_failed` | Some observations could not be saved (`harness/observation_sink.py:120,403`). | No. The saved trace lacks evidence; do not treat a missing value as absence. |