[RCA] crashloop-test-6968688c54-t2dsz/instavote: The pod is crashing due to the application exiting with code...

[initcron]

Root Cause Analysis Report

Resource: crashloop-test-6968688c54-t2dsz
Kind: pods
Namespace: instavote

RCA Report

Resource: pods/crashloop-test-6968688c54-t2dsz
Namespace: instavote
Generated: 2/1/2026, 1:57:56 PM

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Symptoms / Initial Diagnosis

The following symptoms triggered this RCA:

• The pod 'crashloop-test-6968688c54-t2dsz' is in a CrashLoopBackOff state. The container 'crash-app' has restarted 4011 times. The container terminates with exit code 1 after a 5 second sleep.

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Root Cause

The pod is crashing due to the application exiting with code 1 after a 5-second sleep, likely because it cannot connect to the database specified by the DATABASE_URL environment variable.

Confidence: 85%

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Evidence

• The pod logs show that the application starts, then the pod terminates with exit code 1.
• The pod description reveals that the container's command is to sleep for 5 seconds and then exit with code 1.
• The DATABASE_URL environment variable is set to a PostgreSQL instance with a missing host, meaning that the application cannot connect to the database.

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Remediation Options

Option A

Update the DATABASE_URL environment variable

Low Risk | Quick

Modify the deployment or pod configuration to set the DATABASE_URL environment variable to a valid PostgreSQL connection string. This will allow the application to connect to the database and prevent the crash.

Command:

kubectl edit deployment crashloop-test -n instavote

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Analysis Steps

Click to expand step-by-step analysis

[OK] Planning

Plan generated: The pod crashloop-test-6968688c54-t2dsz is in a CrashLoopBackOff state, likely due to an application error causing it to exit with code 1 after a short period.

[OK] Get pod logs

Starting app...

[OK] Describe the pod

Name:             crashloop-test-6968688c54-t2dsz
Namespace:        instavote
Priority:         0
Service Account:  default
Node:             kind-worker/172.18.0.2
Start Time:       Sun, 07 Dec 2025 15:25:25 +0530
Labels:           app=crashloop-test
                  pod-template-hash=6968688c54
Annotations:      <none>
Status:           Running
IP:               10.244.2.17
IPs:
  IP:           10.244.2.17
Controlled By:  ReplicaSet/crashloop-test-6968688c54
Containers:
  crash-app:
    Container ID:  containerd://799ad059886f347c8913e499733b043e8ed48e9d4b3efefa5ebad79b90b7c8fe
    Image:         busybox:latest
    Image ID:      docker.io/library/busybox@sha256:d80cd694d3e9467884fcb94b8ca1e20437d8a501096cdf367a5a1918a34fc2fd
    Port:          <none>
    Host Port:     <none>
    Command:
      sh
      -c
      echo 'Starting app...'; sleep 5; exit 1
    State:          Waiting
      Reason:       CrashLoopBackOff
    Last State:     Terminated
      Reason:       Error
      Exit

[...] Generating Conclusion

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Generated by KubeAgentics RCA