Fireflies.ai Incident Runbook

Overview

Rapid incident response procedures for Fireflies.ai integration failures. Covers API outages, authentication problems, webhook issues, and rate limiting.

Severity Levels

Level	Definition	Response Time	Examples
P1	Integration fully broken	< 15 min	auth_failed on all requests
P2	Degraded functionality	< 1 hour	Rate limiting, slow responses
P3	Minor impact	< 4 hours	Webhook delays, missing summaries
P4	No user impact	Next business day	Monitoring gaps

Quick Triage (Run First)

set -euo pipefail
echo "=== Fireflies.ai Incident Triage ==="
echo ""

# 1. Can we reach the API?
echo "--- API Connectivity ---"
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "HTTP %{http_code} (%{time_total}s)\n" \
  -X POST https://api.fireflies.ai/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIREFLIES_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "{ user { email } }"}'

# 2. What error are we getting?
echo ""
echo "--- API Response ---"
curl -s -X POST https://api.fireflies.ai/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIREFLIES_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "{ user { email is_admin } }"}' | jq .

# 3. Can we list transcripts?
echo ""
echo "--- Transcript Access ---"
curl -s -X POST https://api.fireflies.ai/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIREFLIES_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "{ transcripts(limit: 1) { id title date } }"}' | jq '.data.transcripts[0] // .errors[0]'

Decision Tree

API returning errors?
├─ YES: What error code?
│   ├─ auth_failed (401) → API key revoked or invalid
│   │   └─ Fix: Regenerate key at app.fireflies.ai > Integrations
│   ├─ too_many_requests (429) → Rate limited
│   │   └─ Fix: Enable backoff, check for runaway loops
│   ├─ account_cancelled (403) → Subscription expired
│   │   └─ Fix: Renew subscription, contact billing
│   └─ 5xx errors → Fireflies platform issue
│       └─ Fix: Enable fallback mode, wait for resolution
└─ NO: Webhook issues?
    ├─ Not receiving webhooks → Check dashboard registration
    ├─ Invalid signature → Webhook secret mismatch
    └─ Processing failures → Check your webhook handler logs

Remediation by Error Type

auth_failed (401) — P1

set -euo pipefail
# Verify API key format (should be non-empty)
echo "Key length: ${#FIREFLIES_API_KEY}"

# Test with explicit key
curl -s -X POST https://api.fireflies.ai/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIREFLIES_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "{ user { email } }"}' | jq '.errors[0].code // "OK"'

# Fix: Regenerate at app.fireflies.ai > Integrations > Fireflies API
# Then update your secret store:
# - GitHub: gh secret set FIREFLIES_API_KEY --body "new-key"
# - Vercel: vercel env rm FIREFLIES_API_KEY && vercel env add FIREFLIES_API_KEY
# - GCP: echo -n "new-key" | gcloud secrets versions add fireflies-api-key --data-file=-

too_many_requests (429) — P2

set -euo pipefail
# Check if we have a request loop
# Free/Pro: 50/day limit. Business: 60/min limit.
echo "Check application logs for request volume"

# Immediate mitigation: reduce request rate
# Long-term: implement exponential backoff (see fireflies-rate-limits skill)

Webhook Not Firing — P2

set -euo pipefail
# Verify webhook is registered
echo "Check: app.fireflies.ai > Settings > Developer settings"
echo "Webhook URL should be your HTTPS endpoint"

# Test by uploading audio (triggers webhook when done)
curl -s -X POST https://api.fireflies.ai/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIREFLIES_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "mutation($input: AudioUploadInput) { uploadAudio(input: $input) { success message } }",
    "variables": { "input": { "url": "https://example.com/test.mp3", "title": "Webhook Test" } }
  }' | jq .

# Remember: webhooks only fire for meetings YOU own (organizer_email)

Invalid Webhook Signature — P3

// Debug signature verification
import crypto from "crypto";

function debugWebhookSignature(payload: string, receivedSig: string, secret: string) {
  const computed = crypto.createHmac("sha256", secret).update(payload).digest("hex");

  console.log("Received signature:", receivedSig);
  console.log("Computed signature:", computed);
  console.log("Match:", receivedSig === computed);
  console.log("Secret length:", secret.length, "(must be 16-32)");

  // Common issues:
  // 1. Secret doesn't match what's in Fireflies dashboard
  // 2. Payload was parsed/modified before verification (use raw body)
  // 3. Secret has trailing whitespace
}

Communication Templates

Internal (Slack)

P[1-4] INCIDENT: Fireflies.ai Integration
Status: INVESTIGATING / MITIGATED / RESOLVED
Error: [error code and message]
Impact: [what users are affected]
Action: [what we're doing]
ETA: [next update time]

Postmortem Template

## Incident: Fireflies.ai [Error Type]
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD | **Duration:** Xh Ym | **Severity:** P[1-4]

### Summary
[1-2 sentences]

### Timeline
- HH:MM - Issue detected via [alert/user report]
- HH:MM - Triage started
- HH:MM - Root cause identified: [cause]
- HH:MM - Fix applied
- HH:MM - Verified resolved

### Root Cause
[Technical explanation]

### Action Items
- [ ] [Prevention measure] - Owner - Due date

Error Handling

Issue	Response
Can’t run triage script	Check FIREFLIES_API_KEY is set, check network
Multiple error codes	Address auth first, then rate limits
Intermittent failures	May be transient — monitor for 15 min before escalating
All endpoints failing	Likely Fireflies platform issue — enable fallback mode

Output

• Issue identified and categorized by severity
• Remediation applied based on error code
• Stakeholders notified via templates
• Evidence collected for postmortem

Resources

• Fireflies API Docs
• Fireflies Webhooks

Next Steps

For data handling and compliance, see fireflies-data-handling.