Shutdown Check

Search documentation

Find a page or section

SC101: Service exited before it was ready

SC101 (service exited before it was ready) means your command crashed, exited or failed to start before readiness passed. Read stderr, then fix the command.

SC101 means the service exited or failed to start before readiness passed. The check did not open the workload or send SIGTERM.

CodeSC101 FAIL
StageStartup and in-flight work
CLI exit code1
What it meansThe launched process exited, or failed to start, before the readiness route answered.
Messages
  • Service exited before becoming ready: <error>
  • Service exited before becoming ready
First thing to checkRead the captured stderr: a missing build, a bad path in command, a missing environment variable or a crash on boot.

Where do I find the cause?

Start with Service stderr at the end of the output. Common messages include a missing build file, an invalid environment variable, a syntax error, or an address that is already in use.

Also check:

  • command points to an existing executable and entry file.
  • cwd is the directory the command expects.
  • The application was built before the test.
  • Required environment variables are present in env.
  • The process does not start in the background and let its launcher exit.

Prefer a direct command such as ["node", "dist/server.js"]. Package-manager scripts and shell wrappers can hide the real exit or fail to forward signals.

What if the process stays alive but never becomes ready?

That is SC100. Check the configured URL, readiness path, expected status, and startup timeout.

How do I verify the fix?

Run the configured command from the configured cwd and confirm that it stays alive. Then run shutdown-check and look for both process launched and service ready.

If the command works in your shell but not in the test, compare environment variables and relative paths. shutdown-check does not load shell aliases or shell startup files because it launches the executable directly.