Private repo: zero scheduled runs since Oct 5, manual dispatch works; cron changes and disable/re-enable did not help

[host-felice]

Problem

A scheduled workflow in a personal-account private repository has never produced a schedule run since it was created on October 5, 2026. Manual workflow_dispatch runs start and complete normally. The last check was October 11, 2026, after the expected 05:17 UTC daily run; the API still returns zero scheduled runs.

I am keeping the repository name, workflow ID and private source out of this public report. I can provide those to GitHub staff through a private support channel if needed. I am not assuming this is a documented plan restriction or a confirmed GitHub bug.

Trigger configuration currently on the default branch

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '17 5 * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:

The job uses ubuntu-latest. The workflow explicitly grants contents: write, pull-requests: write and issues: write. It fetches a public upstream repository, merges changes into a subdirectory, runs checks and opens a PR only when there are new commits. A no-change run intentionally exits successfully, but still creates a workflow run when dispatched manually.

Changes already tried

All dates/times below are UTC:

Date	Change
Oct 5, 16:22	Created on main, initially weekly: 0 6 * * 1; included workflow_dispatch from the start.
Oct 5, 16:23	Changed actions/checkout and actions/setup-node from v4 to v5; Node.js for project checks is 24. This was a runtime update, not evidence of fixing the scheduler.
Oct 6, 11:17	Changed to daily 0 9 * * *; added typecheck/build and improved failure reporting.
Oct 7, 10:07	Moved daily time to 0 7 * * *.
Oct 8, 07:19	Moved daily time to 0 5 * * *.
Oct 9, 08:27	Moved off the top of the hour to 17 5 * * *.
Oct 10, about 09:58	Disabled and re-enabled the workflow to try refreshing its registration. A subsequent manual run succeeded.
Oct 11, after 05:17	Checked again: no scheduled run, even after re-enabling the previous day.

Checks performed

• Default branch: main.
• Workflow file exists under .github/workflows/ on remote main; its contents match the local file byte for byte.
• Repository is private, not a fork, not archived, not disabled; it was created only six days ago and has recent commits.
• Workflow is listed by the REST API with state: active.
• Repository Actions permissions: enabled: true, allowed_actions: all.
• Cron-changing commits are associated with the same still-accessible personal account; the account can access the repo and dispatch runs. No enterprise-managed-user setup is involved.
• GET /repos/OWNER/REPO/actions/runs?event=schedule returns {"total_count":0,"workflow_runs":[]}.
• Run history contains eight runs, all workflow_dispatch. Five succeeded and three failed after starting. The older failures were in the problem-reporting step; they do not explain the absence of scheduled runs.
• Latest manual run, Oct 10 at 09:58 UTC: checkout and upstream check succeeded; setup/tests/PR steps were skipped because there were no new upstream commits. Job completed in seconds.
• GitHub Status reports Actions operational with no active incidents at the time of the Oct 11 check.
• I have not independently verified the account's current billing/minute balance. There was no billing failure on the latest manual run. Please advise if a billing/account condition can suppress schedule creation while manual dispatch remains available.

Question for GitHub

Could the Actions team check whether there is a schedule-registration or account/repository-specific scheduler problem matching this symptom? Is there a safe way to inspect or refresh the stored schedule without changing repository visibility?

I read the documentation on default-branch requirements, delayed/dropped scheduled jobs during high load, disabled workflows and inactive actors. We already moved away from minute zero and disabled/re-enabled the workflow, but no scheduled run has ever been recorded, rather than an occasional delayed run.

A similar report is https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/201354. I have not tried its reported public-then-private visibility workaround because this repository contains private material. I have also not repeatedly renamed the workflow, changed the default branch or added a second test workflow: I would prefer guidance rather than more unverified configuration changes.

References:

• https://docs.github.com/en/actions/how-tos/troubleshoot-workflows
• https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflows-and-actions/events-that-trigger-workflows#schedule

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