> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://qodex.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Failure classification

> Qodex classifies failed runs as real bugs, stale tests, or environment issues before filing findings.

# Failure classification

Failure classification keeps a test suite useful. Qodex does not treat every red run as a product bug. It first decides whether the failure is a real bug, a stale test, or an environment issue.

## The three classes

| Class               | Meaning                                         | What Qodex does                                        |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| `REAL_BUG`          | The application likely behaved incorrectly      | Opens or updates a finding with severity and evidence. |
| `STALE_TEST`        | The test no longer matches the app              | Marks the scenario stale and suggests a repair.        |
| `ENVIRONMENT_ISSUE` | The target environment, auth, or network failed | Reports the infra issue without filing a product bug.  |

## Why this matters

Without classification, a renamed button, a staging outage, and a real authentication regression all look the same. That creates noisy reports and missed bugs.

With classification:

* Selector drift becomes a stale-test task.
* Staging downtime becomes an environment note.
* Product regressions become findings.

## Examples

| Failure                                                           | Likely class        |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------- |
| Button moved and cached UI selector no longer matches             | `STALE_TEST`        |
| Staging API returned connection timeout for every scenario        | `ENVIRONMENT_ISSUE` |
| Login accepts an invalid token and returns user data              | `REAL_BUG`          |
| API shape changed intentionally but the assertion was not updated | `STALE_TEST`        |

## Security note

For security scenarios, the classifier still runs first. If the failure is a real bug, security rules then interpret it with inverted semantics: fail means the app allowed the attack.

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Severity model" icon="signal" href="/findings-severity-model">
    See how real bugs get impact-ranked.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Triage workflow" icon="list-checks" href="/findings-triage-workflow">
    Review what happens after a finding opens.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Re-run failed tests" icon="rotate-ccw" href="/run-tests-rerun-failed">
    Confirm fixes and flaky failures.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scenarios" icon="list" href="/concepts-scenarios">
    Understand the test unit that can go stale.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>