Orphaned "deleted" Actions workflow (path "BuildFailed") blocks all PR check-runs

[online2ipayment-bot]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Workflow Configuration

Discussion Details

Repo: zilokki-bot/black-rock-workspace

A GitHub-side orphan workflow makes GitHub create a startup_failure run before any
jobs on every pull_request event, so no real check-runs are ever created and normal
workflows (.github/workflows/gate.yml) never start.

Facts:

• GET /repos/zilokki-bot/black-rock-workspace/actions/workflows/330472602 -> 200
  path="BuildFailed", name="", state="deleted", created_at 2026-08-09T12:21:33Z
• It is ABSENT from GET /actions/workflows (list).
• No "BuildFailed" file exists anywhere in git; no .github/workflows/BuildFailed;
  no git history for such a file.
• PUT /actions/workflows/330472602/disable -> 403 "Unable to disable a workflow
  that is not active."
• DELETE /actions/workflows/330472602 -> 404.
• Repo Actions enabled=true, allowed_actions=all.

Reproduces on a CLEAN probe PR from main (only a docs file changed):

• PR #2498, head 793bde20a..., run_id 31326341048, workflow_id 330472602,
  path "BuildFailed", conclusion startup_failure, jobs total_count 0.
• Also after a main workflow-registry refresh commit (e5cd154f2): run 31327515191,
  same BuildFailed/startup_failure, still 0 check-runs.

Impact: every PR in the repo gets 0 real check-runs. This is a GitHub-side
orphaned/deleted workflow registry record; it cannot be removed from the repo side
(no file, disable blocked by state=deleted, delete 404). Requesting staff to remove
or repair workflow id 330472602 for this repo.

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[mhmdwaelanwr]

Based on the evidence you posted, I don't think there is a repository-side fix left here.

The strongest indicators are:

• GET /actions/workflows/330472602 still resolves the workflow ID;
• that workflow reports state: deleted;
• it is absent from the normal workflow list;
• there is no corresponding file or Git history entry;
• disabling it fails because it is not active;
• every PR event is still being associated with that deleted workflow ID and fails with startup_failure before any jobs/check-runs are created.

One detail worth clarifying: GitHub's documented workflow REST API provides endpoints to list/get, enable, disable, and dispatch workflows, but there is no documented endpoint to delete a workflow definition itself. So a 404 from:

DELETE /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/330472602

is not surprising and is not a supported remediation path.

startup_failure is also a valid GitHub Checks conclusion, and GitHub Actions normally creates check suites/check runs from workflow execution. In your case the failure is happening before job creation, which matches the fact that the affected runs have zero jobs and no normal PR checks.

Given that you have already reproduced this from a clean PR and after refreshing the workflow registry from main, I would stop modifying workflow YAML. Further repository-side changes are unlikely to repair a stale workflow record that is still being resolved internally by ID.

I would escalate this to GitHub Support and include exactly:

• repository: zilokki-bot/black-rock-workspace
• orphan workflow ID: 330472602
• returned state/path: deleted / BuildFailed
• a current affected PR and run ID
• the clean reproduction commit SHA
• the workflow list response showing ID 330472602 is absent
• the direct workflow lookup showing the ID still exists
• the zero-job startup_failure run payload

The key request to Support should be to remove or repair the stale workflow registry entry for workflow ID 330472602.

I would not try to recreate a file named BuildFailed, rename the real workflow, or repeatedly disable/enable Actions for the repository unless Support specifically asks for that. Those actions could mask the symptom without fixing the orphaned backend record.

So the practical answer is: this appears to require GitHub staff intervention; there is no documented repository or REST API operation that can remove this deleted workflow definition from the registry.