Actions storage quota remains at 100% after deleting artifacts

[Vokatyap]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Other

Discussion Details

Hello,

I am experiencing an issue with GitHub Actions artifact storage on my personal account, Vokatyap.

A workflow run fails when uploading a build artifact with the following error:

Failed to CreateArtifact: Artifact storage quota has been hit. Unable to upload any new artifacts. Usage is recalculated every 6–12 hours.

I deleted old workflow artifacts and retained only the latest build artifact in each of my three active build repositories. The remaining artifacts total approximately 132 MB:

• Vokatyap/psv-calculator — approximately 37.68 MB
• Vokatyap/manifold — approximately 81.69 MB
• Vokatyap/Category — approximately 12.59 MB

I also checked my fourth repository, Vokatyap/Test_coding_ver1.0, which has no artifacts or Actions caches. No Actions caches were found in the other three repositories either. My account's Packages page does not show any published packages.

Despite this cleanup and waiting more than 12 hours, the billing page still reports:

Actions storage: 0.5 GB used / 0.5 GB included

The remaining artifacts have been archived and verified locally, so I would prefer not to delete the latest builds unnecessarily.

Could you help determine why the storage quota remains full and whether the usage counter can be recalculated or corrected?

Thank you.

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[mohittguptaa]

The "0.5 GB used" on the billing page isn't your current artifact size. Actions storage is metered over the billing cycle as GB-hours. Usage from the days before you deleted the old artifacts is already counted, and deleting files doesn't refund it. Your remaining ~132 MB is fine. The meter only shows how much of this month's included storage was already consumed.

So the counter isn't stuck. It will reset at the start of your next billing cycle (see Settings → Billing and licensing → Usage for the cycle date).

To unblock uploads before then:

1. Allow a small overage: add a payment method and set an Actions budget above $0 (Settings → Billing → Budgets and alerts). Storage overage costs cents for this volume, and uploads resume right away.
2. Or skip artifacts until the reset: publish the build as a Release asset instead (gh release upload or softprops/action-gh-release). Release assets don't count toward Actions storage.

To keep it from happening again, set a short retention on uploads:

- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: build
    path: dist/
    retention-days: 3

You can also lower the default under each repo's Settings → Actions → General → Artifact and log retention.

[kittimzhe]

The number you're watching can't move from that action — two things are combining here:

"Recalculated every 6–12 hours" recalculates the accrued sum; it doesn't refund it. Actions storage is metered as accrued GB-hours across the billing cycle: the days your old artifacts existed already contributed their GB-hours, and deleting files only stops future accrual. So a 12-hour wait after cleanup tests the wrong variable — the meter sits at the cap even with a small live footprint. It isn't a display bug; it's the cycle-to-date figure.

The unblock levers, in order of practicality:

1. Cycle reset (passive): the accrued counter resets at the start of your next billing cycle — Settings → Billing and licensing → Usage shows the exact date. With your live footprint at ~132 MB, you'll have headroom from day one next cycle.
2. Budget path (active): as @mohittguptaa said, a payment method + a nonzero Actions budget lifts the hard cap. The prerequisite detail: GitHub won't let you create or adjust a budget without a valid payment method on file (the UI enforces it), and the documented behavior for accounts without one is that usage is blocked once the included quota is exhausted — which is exactly the state your uploads are in.
3. Prevention: set retention-days on the upload steps (e.g. retention-days: 7) or lower the default artifact retention in repo Actions settings — build artifacts that auto-expire keep accrued GB-hours low without manual cleanup.

Your call to archive old builds locally and keep only the latest per repo was the right move — that ~132 MB footprint is what matters going forward.

[BenkhiraAhmedBaderEddine1]

Hi,

It sounds like you've already done a thorough cleanup. Since you've reduced your remaining artifacts to approximately 132 MB and waited more than 12 hours, this could be a delayed storage recalculation or an issue with how GitHub is reporting your Actions storage usage.

Here are a few things I'd recommend trying:

1. Check artifact retention and remaining artifacts

Visit the Actions tab in each repository and review the workflow runs for any artifacts that may still be stored. Also check whether any older workflow runs retain artifacts you haven't accounted for.

You can review and delete artifacts under Repository → Actions → select a workflow run → Artifacts.

2. Check GitHub Actions caches

Even if you didn't find any caches initially, you can verify them using the repository's Actions cache management page or the GitHub CLI:

gh cache list -R Vokatyap/psv-calculator
gh cache list -R Vokatyap/manifold
gh cache list -R Vokatyap/Category

3. Check the storage usage again

GitHub notes that storage usage can take several hours to update after deletion. Since you've already waited over 12 hours, check the billing page again after another refresh or a little more time. If it still reports the full 0.5 GB quota, the reported usage may not match the artifacts currently visible in your repositories.

4. Contact GitHub Support if the counter remains stuck

If the issue persists, open a request through [GitHub Support](https://support.github.com/contact). Include the affected repositories, the approximate remaining artifact sizes, the time you deleted the old artifacts, and a screenshot of the storage quota error and billing page.

Ask them to investigate the Actions storage accounting and determine whether a recalculation or correction is needed.

Since you've already archived and verified your latest builds, I wouldn't recommend deleting those remaining artifacts just to troubleshoot the quota.

Hope this helps! Please share an update if you find a solution, as it could help others experiencing the same issue.