Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests disabled

[bcldvd]

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Hello everyone,

I'm trying to setup a release workflow so that it creates a pull request, in so doing I want to enable the Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests setting in my repository; however it is grayed out and having the weirdest behavior.

By default it's grayed out:

After toggling Read repository contents and packages permissions, and saving, I can now select it :

But here's the catch, when I save this; it reverts back to being disabled...

Am I missing something ? Did anyone stumble upon this as well ?

[mrbalov]

I'm facing the same issue right now. And looks like this answers the question - https://stackoverflow.com/a/73155199/8097218.

[peterpeterparker]

Just faced the same issue, and it confirms what I always advise in terms of UX: users do not understand when things are simply disabled 😄. Thanks for sharing the solution link!

[yasuharu519]

I'm facing the same issue here. I followed the answers of the stackoverflow. I tried to change the setting of organization level of workflow permissions, but the checkbox is grayed out somehow in the organization setting, too. 😢

[yasuharu519]

Sorry, my procedure was wrong. First, I looked "organizational" level setting and I thought I cannot fix the issue. As an answer of stackoverflow says, we had to check setting of "enterprise level" through this address https://github.com/enterprises/YOUR_ENTERPRISE/settings/actions
Sorry for my misunderstanding.

[Lutherwaves]

I also saw the same issue, clicking the radio, saving, then refreshing makes the checkbox enabled

[willneill]

This is the classic enterprise-level permission override issue. The "Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests" checkbox is being blocked by a higher-level setting in your GitHub Enterprise/Organization.

GitHub has a three-tier permission hierarchy for Actions: Enterprise → Organization → Repository. A setting disabled at a higher tier cannot be enabled at a lower one — the checkbox will appear greyed out or silently revert. This catches a lot of people because the UI doesn't clearly explain why the setting won't stick.

How to fix it

1. Go to your Organization settings (not the repo):
   https://github.com/organizations/[your-org]/settings/actions
2. Scroll down to Workflow permissions
3. Make sure these are set:

Read and write permissions (radio button)
☑ Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests (checkbox)

4. Click Save
5. Then go back to the repo level:
   https://github.com/[your-org]/[you-repo]/settings/actions
6. The checkbox should now be toggleable — enable it and save

Hope that helps anyone in future with this same issue.