Automation Error - Unable to retrieve Apps Script execution response

[Kumak]

I am encountering an intermittent issue with BOTs where they are suddenly failing to start.
The error message displayed on the Monitoring Page is:

Error encountered in step with name [XXXXX]: Error: Unable to retrieve the Apps Script execution response

("XXXXX" is the step name)

The error has been occurring sporadically since April 25th.

Would be really appreciated if anyone can help. Thank you very much.

[scott192]

Without knowing what your GAS does, it's pretty difficult to troubleshoot.  However, as you have said it seems to be sporadic recently I am assuming that it was working fine before?

If this is the case then I will guess again that perhaps your GAS makes use of an API call to fetch data from another service, packages it up and returns that data back to Appsheet?

If this sporadically works, then do you have any kind of limitations on how many calls to the API you are allowed within a certain time period?

[Kumak]

Thank you very much for your reply.

I forgot to write that there was no execution log of my GAS when the error occurred.

My Bot was working fine before the error occurred. and it is working fine lately. I'm worried that it will suddenly occur again someday.

My GAS edits spreadsheets and accesses Google Drive. My Bot makes use of no return value from my GAS. I have no idea about limitations on API calls.

[scott192]

Then we need to see some screenshots of the configuration of your bot?

You said there is no record that the script actually ran?  Does your bot use a branch condition inside it?

[Kumak]

Here is the configuration of my bot. It uses no branch condition.

[scott192]

I see that your scheduled bot runs at 23:15 every day?  Is it possible that at the time the bot executes that there are other processes from other places ALSO calling your script?  Have you tried moving the time of the bot run to maybe 23:25 or a different time slot just to see if that helps?

[scott192]

I've just re-read your initial post and can see that the bot is working fine now 😁

Your worry is that the 'glitch' may occur again.  On reflection, I feel that glitches are unfortunately part of the Appsheet way at the moment.  They do seem to be overhauling their back end systems, deploying updates, rolling back updates and generally making a muddle of things.

As your script does not return anything back to Appsheet, have you thought about running your script on an Appscript trigger instead of being called by Appsheet?  That way you could guarantee (99.99% of the time) that your script would be executed and do what its meant to do.

[Kumak]

Thank you for your help.

This error occurred again a few days ago on another of my bot. I'm not sure what's different from the day it was working fine.

For now, it only occurs on the scheduled bot, so the way to run my scripts from the GAS trigger is good idea.

Also, it seems like the problem might be that bots can't retrieve the GAS response, so I'll turn on the "Run asynchronously?" option and see if it occurs again.

[scott192]

Asynchronous option is a great idea actually as your schedule won't wait for a response.  It will be interesting if the bot run still fails after that!