Scheduled GitHub Actions do not start, but manual runs succeed

[hyeyoungko]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Workflow Configuration

Discussion Details

Hello,

I’m having trouble with scheduled GitHub Actions runs. I’m using a private repository on GitHub Free.

The workflow is enabled and the workflow file is committed to the default branch, main. Manual runs using workflow_dispatch succeed, and push-triggered runs also appear in the Actions history. However, scheduled runs do not appear in the Actions run history.

To check the scheduler separately, I created a minimal test workflow with both a schedule trigger (every 5 minutes) and workflow_dispatch. Its manual run succeeded, but no scheduled run appeared. I later disabled this test workflow.

I also updated and committed the cron schedule in my main workflow. The main workflow still has no schedule-triggered run in the Actions history.

Could you advise what else I should check? Is there a way to determine why the scheduled events are not creating workflow runs for this repository?

Thank you.

[github-actions[bot]]

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[marcuspaula-seceng]

Since manual and push runs work, Actions itself is fine and the problem is schedule registration or delivery. Things to check:

1. Every-5-minutes is the minimum and the least reliable. Under load, short-interval schedules are the first to be delayed or skipped. Test with something like */15 * * * * or a fixed minute that isn't 0.
2. Disabling/re-enabling doesn't always re-register. Make a real commit to the schedule: line on the default branch, from your own user account (not a bot or GITHUB_TOKEN), since scheduled runs are tied to the actor who last changed the cron.
3. Check the Actions settings. Settings → Actions → General should allow all actions or the ones you use. If the repo was created from a fork or template, confirm workflows were explicitly enabled.
4. It may be platform-side. Several private repos have reported zero scheduled runs since around Oct 5 (Private repo: zero scheduled runs since Oct 5, manual dispatch works; cron changes and disable/re-enable did not help #210040, Private repo: zero scheduled runs since Oct 5, manual dispatch works; cron changes and disable/re-enable did not help #210032, GitHub Actions scheduled workflow not triggering despite being enabled #210059). Keep an eye on https://www.githubstatus.com.

If you need it to run reliably in the meantime, trigger it through workflow_dispatch from an external cron (cron-job.org, a VPS, etc.) using the REST endpoint POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/{file}/dispatches.