fix(ci): resolve link validation workflow false failures

- Fix GitHub Actions exit logic to only fail when broken links exist
- Improve Cypress test error handling with robust fallback mechanism
- Enhance Test Setup Validation to handle cache scenarios correctly

The workflow was incorrectly failing when generating success comments
with cache statistics, treating any comment generation as broken links.
Now properly distinguishes between success messages and actual failures.

Author: jstirnaman

.github/actions/report-broken-links/action.yml

@@ -44,12 +44,18 @@ runs:
         
         # Check if comment file was created and has content
         if [[ -f comment.md && -s comment.md ]]; then
-          echo "has-broken-links=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "comment-generated=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           
           # Count broken links by parsing the comment
           broken_count=$(grep -o "Found [0-9]* broken link" comment.md | grep -o "[0-9]*" || echo "0")
           echo "broken-link-count=$broken_count" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "comment-generated=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          
+          # Check if there are actually broken links (not just a success comment)
+          if [[ "$broken_count" -gt 0 ]]; then
+            echo "has-broken-links=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          else
+            echo "has-broken-links=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi
         else
           echo "has-broken-links=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           echo "broken-link-count=0" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

broken_links_report.json

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+[]

cypress/e2e/content/article-links.cy.js

@@ -76,9 +76,25 @@ describe('Article', () => {
         );
         cy.log('   Check that all files exist and are readable');
 
-        Cypress.fail(
-          `Incremental validation task failed: ${error.message}. Check logs for details.`
+        // Instead of failing completely, fall back to testing all provided subjects
+        cy.log(
+          '🔄 Falling back to test all provided subjects without cache optimization'
         );
+
+        // Reset validation strategy to indicate fallback mode
+        validationStrategy = {
+          fallback: true,
+          error: error.message,
+          unchanged: [],
+          changed: sourceFilePaths.map((filePath) => ({
+            filePath,
+            error: 'fallback',
+          })),
+          total: sourceFilePaths.length,
+        };
+
+        // Keep original subjects for testing (should come from test_subjects env var)
+        cy.log(`📋 Testing ${subjects.length} pages in fallback mode`);
       });
   });
 
@@ -194,20 +210,34 @@ describe('Article', () => {
     cy.log(`   • Test subjects count: ${subjects.length}`);
     cy.log(`   • Validation strategy: ${validationStrategy || 'Not set'}`);
 
-    if (subjects.length === 0) {
-      cy.log('⚠️ No test subjects found - this may indicate:');
+    // Check if we're in fallback mode due to cache system issues
+    if (validationStrategy && validationStrategy.fallback) {
+      cy.log('⚠️ Running in fallback mode due to cache system error');
+      cy.log(`   • Error: ${validationStrategy.error}`);
+      cy.log('   • All files will be tested without cache optimization');
+
+      // Ensure we have subjects to test in fallback mode
+      expect(subjects.length).to.be.greaterThan(
+        0,
+        'Should have test subjects in fallback mode'
+      );
+    } else if (subjects.length === 0) {
+      cy.log('⚠️ No test subjects found - analyzing cause:');
       cy.log('   • All files were cached and skipped');
       cy.log('   • No files matched the test criteria');
       cy.log('   • File mapping failed during setup');
 
       // Don't fail if this is expected (cache hit scenario)
       const testSubjectsData = Cypress.env('test_subjects_data');
       if (testSubjectsData) {
-        cy.log(
-          'ℹ️ Test subjects data is available, cache optimization likely active'
-        );
+        cy.log('✅ Cache optimization active - this is expected');
+        cy.log('ℹ️ Test subjects data is available, all files cached');
       } else {
         cy.log('❌ No test subjects data available - potential setup issue');
+        // Only fail if we have no data and no subjects - indicates a real problem
+        expect(testSubjectsData).to.not.be.empty(
+          'Should have test subjects data when no subjects to test'
+        );
       }
     } else {
       cy.log(`✅ Ready to test ${subjects.length} pages`);
@@ -216,6 +246,9 @@ describe('Article', () => {
         cy.log(`   ... and ${subjects.length - 5} more pages`);
       }
     }
+
+    // Always pass if we get to this point - the setup is valid
+    cy.log('✅ Test setup validation completed successfully');
   });
 
   subjects.forEach((subject) => {