GitHub Actions disabled on public repository despite enabled permissions

[Benny1496]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Other

Discussion Details

Hello GitHub Community,

I’m experiencing an issue with GitHub Actions on my public repository:

https://github.com/Benny1496/solidcraft

GitHub Actions was working correctly until October 22, 2026. My last successful workflow run was:

https://github.com/Benny1496/solidcraft/actions/runs/39860032217

Since October 23, I have been unable to start new workflows. GitHub displays the following error:

“Actions has been disabled for this repository.”

What I’ve already checked:

• My repository is public and not archived or disabled.
• Repository Settings → Actions → General is set to “Allow all actions and reusable workflows”.
• I have saved these settings, refreshed the page, and retried the workflow.
• My account is on GitHub Free.
• Only 97 of 2,000 included Actions minutes have been used.
• My billing dashboard shows $0 in actual billable Actions usage.
• The repository uses standard GitHub-hosted Ubuntu runners.

Possible billing-related issue:

My account has an Actions budget of $0 with “Stop usage when budget limit is reached” enabled. The budget page displays “100% Usage blocked”.

However, I cannot edit or delete this budget without adding a payment method. When attempting to delete it, GitHub reports:

“Unable to delete budget: A valid payment method is required.”

I don’t know whether this budget is causing the repository-level Actions restriction or whether GitHub has separately disabled Actions on my account or repository.

My questions:

1. Why are GitHub Actions disabled on a public repository even though the repository permissions are enabled and the included minutes are not exhausted?
2. Could the $0 Actions budget be responsible for this restriction?
3. How can I restore free GitHub Actions functionality without adding a payment method or subscribing to a paid plan?
4. If this is an account-level restriction, how can a GitHub Free user request a review?

I previously opened discussion #211064, but it was automatically closed because the required Community template was not used. I’m resubmitting this report through the official GitHub web form.

Thank you for your help!

[github-actions[bot]]

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[mujtbabbas]

The minutes counter is a red herring here. The thing to look at is the $0 budget you found.

With the current billing setup, Actions budgets are dollar-based and account-level, not per-repo minute pools. A product budget of $0 with "Stop usage when budget limit is reached" switched on means usage is blocked at 100% from the very first cent, and what that surfaces as inside a repository is exactly the message you're seeing: "Actions has been disabled for this repository." The 97/2,000 minutes are your included free minutes; they don't override a budget that says stop at $0. This also matches the timing, a lot of identical reports started appearing when these budgets rolled out.

What to do:

1. Go to Settings → Billing and plans → Budgets and alerts, open the Actions budget, and edit it rather than delete it: raise the amount above $0, or turn off "Stop usage when budget limit is reached." Editing is a separate route from deleting, and it's the delete path that pushes you into adding a payment method.
2. To confirm it's account-level and not something about this one repo: create a brand-new public repository with a trivial workflow (a single echo step) and run it. If it fails with the same message, it's the account budget, not the repo's Actions settings.
3. If the budget won't save, or it doesn't show as reached while the block persists, open a billing support case with GitHub Support. Free accounts can open billing cases, and an account-level usage block that you can't clear from the budgets page is something only they can lift from their side.

The repo itself and your workflows are almost certainly fine, nothing here points at a problem in the YAML.

[Mohammad-AlBaker-Zaytoun]

Hi @Benny1496,

Based on the details you've provided, I would investigate the billing/budget restriction separately from the repository's Actions permissions.

The important distinction is that enabling "Allow all actions and reusable workflows" controls which actions can run, but it doesn't necessarily override an account-level restriction.

1. The $0 budget is suspicious, but not conclusive

According to GitHub's billing documentation, standard GitHub-hosted runners are free for public repositories.

That means your public repository using a standard Ubuntu runner should not normally require a paid plan or consume your 2,000 included private-repository minutes.

GitHub also documents that a budget configured with "Stop usage when budget limit is reached" can block additional usage once exhausted.

However, this doesn't establish that your $0 budget is the cause. The message "Actions has been disabled for this repository" could reflect a separate restriction.

I wouldn't add a payment method just to test that assumption.

2. Check the repository's effective Actions permissions through the API

If you have GitHub CLI installed and authenticated, run:

gh api
repos/Benny1496/solidcraft/actions/permissions

Look for:

{
"enabled": true,
"allowed_actions": "all"
}

If "enabled" is false, GitHub considers Actions disabled for the repository, regardless of the workflow YAML.

If "enabled" is true, that would be useful evidence that the visible repository settings are not explaining the restriction.

This endpoint requires appropriate repository permissions.

3. Check the workflow state independently

List the workflows:

gh api
repos/Benny1496/solidcraft/actions/workflows
--jq '.workflows[] | {
id,
name,
state,
path
}'

If the workflows are active but execution is blocked, that helps distinguish individual workflow disablement from a repository-wide restriction.

4. Check whether the problem affects other repositories

If you have another public repository under the same account, try a minimal workflow using a standard Ubuntu runner:

name: Actions Availability Test

on:
workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
contents: read

jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- run: echo "GitHub Actions is working"

If it runs successfully in another public repository but fails in "solidcraft", that points toward a repository-specific restriction.

If it fails in both repositories, an account-level restriction becomes more plausible.

This is only a diagnostic test, not a workaround for any GitHub-imposed restriction.

5. Verify the exact budget scope

Under Settings → Billing and licensing → Budgets and alerts, check:

• Whether the $0 budget applies to GitHub Actions generally or to a specific Actions SKU
• Whether its scope is account-wide or repository-specific
• Whether any other overlapping budgets exist
• Whether "Stop usage when budget limit is reached" is enabled

GitHub documents that multiple applicable budgets can affect usage, and that an exhausted budget with a hard stop can block additional metered usage.

However, the "100% Usage blocked" label alone does not prove that free public-repository workflows are being blocked by that budget.

6. Escalate the billing restriction to GitHub Support

The particularly unusual part of your report is this combination:

• Public repository
• Standard Ubuntu runners
• Included minutes not exhausted
• $0 billable usage
• Actions explicitly disabled
• Unable to edit or delete the budget without adding a payment method

If the API confirms Actions are disabled and the UI won't allow you to restore them, I would submit a billing/support request rather than repeatedly changing the workflow configuration.

You can use:

https://support.github.com/

Include:

1. The repository URL
2. Your last successful workflow run
3. A screenshot of the Actions-disabled error
4. A screenshot of the $0 budget showing blocked usage
5. The payment-method requirement when attempting to delete the budget
6. The output of the repository Actions permissions API

I'd specifically ask GitHub Support:

«Can you confirm whether the repository's Actions functionality is disabled by a billing/budget restriction or by a separate account/repository policy? Since this is a public repository using standard GitHub-hosted runners, can free Actions execution be restored without requiring a payment method?»

Conclusion

I wouldn't assume that upgrading your plan or adding a credit card is necessary.

GitHub's documentation explicitly provides free standard GitHub-hosted runner usage for public repositories.

The next useful step is to determine whether GitHub reports "actions/permissions.enabled" as "false", and whether the same restriction affects another public repository under your account.

Could you share the output of the repository Actions permissions endpoint and confirm whether a minimal workflow works in another public repository?

Those two results would help narrow down whether this is a repository-specific disablement or a broader account/billing restriction.

References:

• "GitHub Actions billing" (https://docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-actions)
• "Budgets and spending limits" (https://docs.github.com/en/billing/how-tos/set-up-budgets)
• "GitHub Support" (https://support.github.com/)