Request timed out when fetching configuration files

Summary

We have received several reports of customers experiencing intermittent timeout errors when fetching CI/CD configuration files, particularly when their configuration includes large numbers of includes.

Unable to run pipeline

• Request timed out when fetching configuration files.

It’s also notable that this only started occurring recently without changes to the customers CI/CD configuration, which raises the possibility of a regression or a scaling-related issue rather than a problem with the customer’s configuration itself.

Customer Reports (Internal)

• https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/688455
• https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/688970
• https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/688907
• https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/662509
• https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/695193
• https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/693831

Steps to reproduce

As the issue is intermittent, it is difficult to replicate consistently.

1. Configure a GitLab project with a large number of includes in .gitlab-ci.yml
2. Run the pipeline
3. Observe intermittent "Request timed out when fetching configuration files" errors

What is the current bug behavior?

Pipelines intermittently fail with timeout errors when fetching CI/CD configuration files. The Gitlab::Ci::Config::External::Context::TimeoutError exception is raised during configuration file retrieval, preventing pipeline creation.

What is the expected correct behavior?

Pipelines should consistently process CI/CD configuration files without timeout errors. Configuration fetch should complete within the 30-second timeout limit without intermittent failures.

Relevant logs and/or screenshots

• Gitlab::Ci::Config::External::Context::TimeoutError logs (Internal)

Output of checks

This bug happens on GitLab.com