GitHub Actions cron: schedule not registered for private repo on personal account

[seelman]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Schedule & Cron Jobs

Discussion Details

I'm on a personal free account using a private repository.

Problem:

• Workflows in .github/workflows/ on main include both schedule and workflow_dispatch.
• Workflows are enabled and repo Actions settings allow all actions.
• Manual runs via workflow_dispatch work correctly.
• But Actions UI banners only show workflow_dispatch as the event trigger; schedule is never listed.
• No scheduled runs are created for any workflow, including a minimal test workflow:

name: Schedule Test

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/10 * * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "test"

This looks like either a limitation or bug affecting schedule in private repos on personal accounts. Even a new test workflow on main shows only workflow_dispatch in the banner and never produces scheduled runs.

Repo visibility: private
Account type: personal free

Is this a known limitation, and if not, could the Actions team investigate?

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[initial-d]

I would be cautious about treating this as a documented “GitHub Free private repos cannot use schedule” limitation. I could not find that stated in the public Actions docs.

The billing/availability docs say Actions is available on GitHub products, and for private repositories Free accounts receive included GitHub-hosted runner minutes/storage:

• https://docs.github.com/en/actions/concepts/billing-and-usage
• https://docs.github.com/en/billing/managing-billing-for-github-actions/about-billing-for-github-actions

The documented schedule requirements/caveats are different:

• the workflow file must exist on the default branch
• scheduled workflows run on the default branch
• scheduled runs can be delayed or dropped under high load
• public-repo scheduled workflows can be disabled after 60 days of no repository activity

Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/events-that-trigger-workflows#schedule

For your exact symptom, I would check whether GitHub has actually registered the workflow file and whether the schedule exists in the workflow metadata.

A useful set of checks:

# Confirm default branch
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO --jq '{private, default_branch, archived, disabled}'

# List workflows and states
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/actions/workflows \
  --jq '.workflows[] | {id, name, path, state, created_at, updated_at}'

# Show recent runs for the workflow
gh run list --repo OWNER/REPO --workflow 'Schedule Test' --limit 20

If the workflow appears in actions/workflows with state: active, but no scheduled runs ever appear after several cron intervals, I would try this sequence:

1. Change the cron to a non-*/10 daily or hourly test, away from minute 0, for example:

   on:
     schedule:
       - cron: '17 * * * *'
     workflow_dispatch:

2. Commit that change directly to the default branch.

3. Disable and re-enable the workflow from the Actions UI, or with the API:

   gh api -X PUT repos/OWNER/REPO/actions/workflows/WORKFLOW_ID/disable
   gh api -X PUT repos/OWNER/REPO/actions/workflows/WORKFLOW_ID/enable

4. Wait for at least two expected schedule windows, then check runs with event == schedule:

   gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/actions/runs \
     --jq '.workflow_runs[] | select(.event=="schedule") | {id, name, created_at, run_started_at, status, conclusion}'

If it still never creates a schedule run, I would open Support with the workflow ID, repo owner, plan, exact workflow file, and the API outputs above. That would be a stronger report than assuming a plan restriction, because the public docs currently indicate Free private repositories have included Actions minutes rather than saying schedule is disabled.

[seelman]

Thanks for this reply, funny enough the "low quality" response actually worked, I make the repo public, then back to private right after and the action has been running ever since... So not sure if this is a loophole or bug.
Though when I go to the action the workflow says it only has a workflow_dispatch event trigger and no scheduled triggers.

Also, I have a free individual account so don't have access to support.