How to use Github actions self-hosted runner with personal account across many projects?

[ColtonIdle]

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Discussion Details

I setup a self-hosted runner so easily. it was great. but now i want the little machine on my desk to be handle all of my personal projects. doesn't look like theres any easy way to do that. would love some docs here... but ultimately it seems like just writing

./config.sh --url https://github.com/cidle/MyApp2 --token ABCshould work. but it errors saying that the runner is already configured. seems like it should be able to support multiple projects. then when i create a new personal project i can click "add self hosted runner", run the one liner, and be back in business.

[ColtonIdle]

Http response code: NotFound from 'POST https://api.github.com/actions/runner-registration' (Request Id: REDACTED)
{"message":"Not Found","documentation_url":"https://docs.github.com/rest","status":"404"}
Response status code does not indicate success: 404 (Not Found).

[ColtonIdle]

there is not actions in settings at the user level

[Vicky9890]

Hii @ColtonIdle -- its a good question, you are right, a single self-hosted runner instance can only be registered to one repository, organization or enterprise at a time.
When you run " ./config.sh " again with a different --url it fails because the runner is already configured for another scope.

If you want the same physical machine to handle multiple repositories, you have two options:

1. You can set up several runners, each in its own folder.
   or
2. Register the runner at the organization level.

You can also prefer this doc:

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/how-tos/manage-runners/self-hosted-runners

[rathod-0007]

You’re right — a self-hosted runner can only be registered to one repository, one organization, or one enterprise at a time. That’s why you see the “runner is already configured” error when trying to attach it to another repo.

If you want your local machine to handle multiple personal projects, you’ve got two options:

1.Register the runner at the organization level (recommended)

• Go to your org’s page → Settings → Actions → Runners → New self-hosted runner.
  Configure it once with:

./config.sh --url https://github.com/YOUR_ORG --token YOUR_TOKEN

• All repositories in that org will then be able to use it.

2.Run multiple runner instances

• Copy your runner folder to a new directory for each repo.
• Configure each one separately with its own token and --url.
• Each instance can serve a different repo.

[ColtonIdle]

"Go to your org’s page → Settings → Actions → Runners → New self-hosted runner."

how do i go to my "orgs page"?

[olanotolu]

You can't register a single runner to multiple repositories directly with multiple ./config.sh commands. Once a runner is configured, it's locked to that specific repository (or organization/enterprise).
However, you have two good options:
Option 1: Organization-level runner (recommended)
Instead of adding runners to individual repos, add the runner at your personal organization level. This lets one runner serve all repos under your account.

Go to your GitHub profile settings → Organizations (or https://github.com/settings/organizations)
If you don't have a personal organization, create one
Add the self-hosted runner at the organization level
All repos in that organization can use the runner

[ColtonIdle]

looks like if im added to an org, i can't be an org. interesting.

[DeviVaraPrasadJ-dev]

You can use the same self-hosted runner for multiple personal projects, but it needs to be registered at the account (user) level, not individually for each repository. When you try to re-run ./config.sh with another repo URL, it fails because the runner is already configured for a single repo.
To make one machine handle all your projects:

Remove the current repo-scoped config:
./config.sh remove

Re-register it at the user/account scope:
./config.sh --url https://github.com/ --token

In each repo’s workflow, just use:
runs-on: self-hosted

Once it’s registered at the user level, any of your personal repos can use that same runner without additional setup. It would definitely be helpful if the docs explained this more clearly, especially for users expanding from a single project.

[ColtonIdle]

thanks. what value should i use for token? do i need to create a PAT, or just grab the token that i get autogenerated from when i add a runner to a project?

[DeviVaraPrasadJ-dev]

You can use the same self-hosted runner for multiple personal projects, but it needs to be registered at the account (user) level, not individually for each repository. When you try to re-run ./config.sh with another repo URL, it fails because the runner is already configured for a single repo.
To make one machine handle all your projects:

Remove the current repo-scoped config:
./config.sh remove

Re-register it at the user/account scope:
./config.sh --url https://github.com/ --token

In each repo’s workflow, just use:
runs-on: self-hosted

Once it’s registered at the user level, any of your personal repos can use that same runner without additional setup. It would definitely be helpful if the docs explained this more clearly, especially for users expanding from a single project.

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