Render Deployment Troubleshooting

Quick reference for debugging failed deploys and env var issues on Render.

Env var changes and restarts

If you updated an env var (e.g. DISCORD_REDIRECT_URI) and the service did not restart:

Render lets you choose deploy behavior when saving env vars in the Dashboard:

1. Save only — Variables are saved but the service keeps running with the old values until the next deploy.
2. Save and deploy — Redeploys the existing build with the new variables.
3. Save, rebuild, and deploy — Full rebuild and deploy.

If you chose Save only, the API (or agent) will not pick up the new value until you trigger a deploy.

Fix: Manually deploy from the Render Dashboard → your service → Manual Deploy, or push a commit to trigger auto-deploy. For ledgerline-api only, you can run:

RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:deploy
pnpm render:watchbuild --logs

Checking deploy status and logs

The Render API sometimes returns empty deploy logs for failed deploys. When render:status --logs shows no log lines, open the Render Dashboard → service → Logs or Events for full build/release output.

CLI (no MCP)

# Status for API and Datadog agent (latest deploy)
RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:status

# With recent deploy logs
RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:status --logs

# Only API or only agent
RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:status api --logs
RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:status agent --logs
RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:status all --logs

Watch a deploy in progress

RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:watchbuild
RENDER_API_KEY=... pnpm render:watchbuild --logs

Render MCP (Cursor)

The Render MCP can tail logs and list deploys, but requires a workspace to be selected first.

1. Use the Render MCP to select your workspace (ask the assistant to help).
2. Then use /taillogs or list_logs / list_deploys / get_deploy for the target service.

Services:

• ledgerline-api — Web API
• datadog-agent — Private service for APM/DogStatsD

Common failure modes

Symptom	Cause	Fix
API didn’t restart after env change	"Save only" for env vars	Manual Deploy or push
build_failed	Build errors (deps, tsc, tsup)	Check build logs; fix locally
update_failed	Build succeeded, start failed	Check deploy logs for startup errors
Invalid OAuth2 redirect_uri	DISCORD_REDIRECT_URI ≠ Discord config	Match URI in Discord app to DISCORD_REDIRECT_URI
datadog-agent failed	Docker build / DD_API_KEY	Set DD_API_KEY on agent; check Dockerfile build
unable to reliably determine the host name	Render container has no resolvable hostname	Set DD_HOSTNAME in Dockerfile or Render env
connection refused :5001 (system-probe)	Process agent needs system-probe; Render has none	Set DD_PROCESS_AGENT_ENABLED=false
Dynamic require of "hot-shots" is not supported	ESM bundle; dep required dynamically	Use import; add dep to tsup external

/info and /api/info

Debug endpoint returning deployment metadata, masked env vars, git branch/SHA, and build info. Use to quickly verify what is running in each environment.

curl https://your-service.onrender.com/api/info

Returns JSON: build, deployment (Render platform, service, branch, commit), env (masked values).

RENDER_API_KEY

Get your API key from Render Dashboard → Account Settings → API Keys. Set RENDER_API_KEY in .env or export it before running render:status, render:watchbuild, or render:deploy.