Scheduled GitHub Actions workflow never triggers, while manual runs succeed

[msn131419-ai]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Schedule & Cron Jobs

Discussion Details

Issue description

My scheduled GitHub Actions workflow never triggers automatically, although manual execution succeeds and the workflow can successfully commit and push a JSON file to the repository.

The repository is private, the workflow is enabled, and the YAML file is on the default main branch.

Repository and workflow

Repository: msn131419-ai/flycheapgo-automation-test

Workflow: .github/workflows/main.yml

Workflow URL:
https://github.com/msn131419-ai/flycheapgo-automation-test/actions/workflows/main.yml

Current schedule configuration

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: '7,22,37,52 * * * *'

permissions:
  contents: write

Expected behavior

The workflow should execute automatically at minutes 7, 22, 37, and 52 of each hour (UTC).

It should generate and commit inbox/actions-heartbeat.json without manual intervention.

Actual behavior

Only one workflow run has appeared, triggered manually on September 24, 2026.

The manual run succeeded in approximately 12 seconds, including generating and pushing the JSON file.

No scheduled runs have appeared, despite several scheduled execution windows passing.

The JSON file has not been updated since the manual run.

Troubleshooting already performed

1. Confirmed that the workflow exists on the default main branch.
2. Confirmed that GitHub Actions is enabled.
3. Confirmed that the workflow is active (the menu displays "Disable workflow").
4. Confirmed that the workflow has contents: write permission.
5. Successfully executed the workflow manually.
6. Initially tested an hourly schedule at minute 17.
7. Changed the schedule to four times per hour, avoiding the top of the hour.
8. Committed the updated workflow to main.
9. Made a separate README commit to trigger schedule resynchronization, following suggestions from similar GitHub Community discussions.
10. Confirmed that no scheduled runs appeared after the README commit.

Relevant commits:

• Workflow schedule update: 1412d7f
• README resynchronization test: 4024cc8

The issue persists.

Request

Could someone from the GitHub Actions team investigate whether the scheduled workflow has been correctly registered in GitHub's scheduling backend?

Is this related to the previously reported schedule synchronization issue discussed in GitHub Community #185355?

Please advise whether there is an additional step required to restore scheduled execution for this repository.

Thank you.

[github-actions[bot]]

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[tayfuryldz]

Your cron itself looks fine. One thing I would test before changing the job is the schedule, not the workflow body. GitHub notes that scheduled runs can be delayed, and under enough Actions load some queued runs can even be dropped. They specifically call out the start of the hour as a busy period.

Since manual runs already work and the file is on the default branch, I'd temporarily reduce this to one odd minute well away from :00, for example 23 * * * *. Then leave it for a few cycles and check the run history. If none of those runs are created, that is more interesting than a delayed cron and I'd take that exact run history to Support. There isn't anything in 7,22,37,52 * * * * that should make it invalid.