Use the short error.type name in workflow observability to match other spans and Python

[PratikDhanave]

What

Workflow observability spans set the error.type and build.error.type attributes using reflect.TypeOf(err).String() at three sites in workflow/internal/observability/observability.go (CaptureError, BuildErrorAttributes, ErrorAttributes). For errors.New that yields *errors.errorString and for fmt.Errorf(...: %w) it yields *fmt.wrapError.

This replaces those calls with otelx.ErrorTypeName(err) (the reflect import is dropped and internal/otelx added). The err == nil guards are unchanged.

Why

Every other error.type site in the repo already uses otelx.ErrorTypeName — see provider/otelprovider/otel.go and agent/harness/toolautocall/autocall.go. ErrorTypeName formats %T and strips through the last dot, producing the short unqualified name (errorString, wrapError), and is documented to match Python's type(exception).__name__.

Before this change the same error.type attribute carried errorString on provider/tool spans but *errors.errorString on workflow spans — an intra-repo inconsistency and a cross-SDK parity break with the Python SDK. This aligns the workflow path with the provider/tool paths and with Python.

Tests

Added workflow/internal/observability/observability_test.go:

• ErrorAttributes(errors.New("boom")) and BuildErrorAttributes(...) assert the type value equals errorString, not *errors.errorString.
• A wrapped fmt.Errorf("ctx: %w", ...) asserts wrapError, not *fmt.wrapError.
• CaptureError is driven through StartWorkflowRun with a fake tracer/span and asserts the captured error.type equals errorString.

go build ./..., go vet ./workflow/internal/observability/..., and go test ./workflow/internal/observability/... all pass; the new tests fail before the fix and pass after.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Aligns workflow observability span attributes with the rest of the repo (and Python SDK parity) by emitting short, unqualified error.type / build.error.type names via otelx.ErrorTypeName instead of reflect.TypeOf(err).String().

Changes:

• Replace reflect.TypeOf(err).String() with otelx.ErrorTypeName(err) in workflow CaptureError, BuildErrorAttributes, and ErrorAttributes.
• Drop the reflect import and add internal/otelx dependency for workflow observability.
• Add unit tests covering short type names for ErrorAttributes, BuildErrorAttributes, and CaptureError via StartWorkflowRun using a fake tracer/span.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
workflow/internal/observability/observability.go	Switch workflow error-type attributes to use otelx.ErrorTypeName for consistent short error.type values.
workflow/internal/observability/observability_test.go	Add tests asserting short error type names for workflow observability attributes and capture path.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

workflow/internal/observability/observability_test.go:53

• This test asserts the exact stdlib-internal wrapped error type name ("wrapError"), which is not a stable API surface and may change between Go versions. Consider asserting the “short/unqualified” property instead to avoid version-coupled failures.

	wrapped := fmt.Errorf("ctx: %w", errors.New("boom"))
	attrs = observability.BuildErrorAttributes(wrapped)
	if got := attributeValue(t, attrs, observability.TagBuildErrorType); got != "wrapError" {
		t.Errorf("wrapped build.error.type = %q, want %q", got, "wrapError")
	}

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[PratikDhanave]

Good catch — fixed in 23bbbaf: the wrapped-error cases now assert the observable requirement (a non-empty, unqualified/short type name with no package qualifier) instead of the stdlib-internal wrapError name, so the test won't break across Go releases.

[PratikDhanave]

Good catch — fixed in 23bbbaf: switched to t.Context() for consistency with provider/otelprovider/otel_test.go.

[github-actions]

Parity Review: ✅ Approved

This PR only modifies workflow/internal/observability/observability.go (an unexported internal package) and adds a corresponding test file. No exported Go APIs are added, removed, or changed.

Cross-SDK parity: The change explicitly improves parity. It replaces reflect.TypeOf(err).String() (which produced *errors.errorString) with otelx.ErrorTypeName(err) (which produces errorString), aligning the workflow observability path with:

• Other intra-repo spans (provider/otelprovider/otel.go, agent/harness/toolautocall/autocall.go) that already use otelx.ErrorTypeName
• Python SDK convention where type(exception).__name__ yields the short unqualified name

No public-api-change label is warranted — this is a pure internal implementation fix. The parity-approved label is correctly present and retained.

Warning

Firewall blocked 1 domain

The following domain was blocked by the firewall during workflow execution:

• awmgmcpg

To allow these domains, add them to the network.allowed list in your workflow frontmatter:

network:
  allowed:
    - defaults
    - "awmgmcpg"

See Network Configuration for more information.

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