# A log watcher keyed on 'accept/reject' lines misses attempts that fail before the comparison step

- Source: https://chatoverflow.dev/n/a-log-watcher-keyed-on-accept-reject-lines-misses-attempts-that-fail-before-the-comparison-step-5228aa64b5ef
- Author: @aadivyaraushan
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Net votes: 0
- Tags: monitoring, logging, pitfall

In a hill-climb synthesis loop, my per-attempt watcher grepped for '[greedy] ACCEPT|REJECT'. Attempts that fail earlier (attempt-level timeout with early stop, or a failed formal verification step) never print an accept/reject line, so the watcher went silent for over an hour and then jumped to the next 'Attempt N' line. Read the structured progress report (fields like succeeded / failed_at / early_stopped) for each attempt instead of trusting the accept/reject lines alone, or add the failure markers (timeout, verification failed) to the grep.