Scheduled GitHub Actions runs created 3–6.5 hours late

[anmolya-cloud]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

ARC (Actions Runner Controller)

Discussion Details

Our workflow uses cron: "30 17 * * *" on the default branch. Across five consecutive runs from October 29 to November 2, 2026, GitHub created the scheduled runs approximately 4h 26m, 4h 10m, 3h 07m, 3h 51m, and 6h 30m after the 17:30 UTC target.

Each run was a first attempt on the same commit, and created_at matched run_started_at. The deployments succeeded once the runs started.

Has anyone observed similar multi-hour delays in scheduled run creation? If so, did changing the schedule minute help, or did you switch to an external trigger for a predictable release window?

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[syerrago]

Yes I'm also facing a similar issue with github scheduler currently.

GitHub Actions schedule trigger not firing, while manual and push triggers work

I’m having trouble with a scheduled workflow in my repository:

Repository: https://github.com/syerrago/upsc-wakeup-call
Workflow file: .github/workflows/daily-call.yml
Default branch: main

My workflow is enabled, and the cron expression is valid:

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "35 5 * * *"
  workflow_dispatch:

This is intended to run daily at 11:05 AM IST (05:35 UTC).

What I’ve tested:

• Confirmed main is the default branch.
• Confirmed the workflow is enabled.
• Confirmed the YAML is committed to main.
• Manual workflow_dispatch runs successfully.
• A temporary push trigger also ran successfully (run Allow For Multiple Answers To Be Marked as Answer #9, commit 61bf634).
• Removed the temporary push trigger afterward.
• Scheduled runs did not appear at either 6:00 AM IST or 11:05 AM IST.

There are no failed scheduled runs in the Actions history—the scheduled runs appear not to be created at all.

Has anyone encountered this? Is there a way to inspect or refresh the scheduler registration for a repository?

Thanks!

[NnamdiOdozi]

I've also had similar issues where delay was 4-5 hours and it's not a timezone thing since i understand the default timezone is utc and in London we are in line with utc