Scheduled workflows never trigger, but workflow_dispatch works

[suibfh]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Schedule & Cron Jobs

Discussion Details

Summary

Scheduled GitHub Actions workflows are not triggering in my private repository, although manual workflow_dispatch runs work successfully.

I have tested multiple cron schedules and even created a separate minimal workflow, but no scheduled runs have appeared in the Actions history.

Environment

• Repository visibility: Private
• Default branch: main
• GitHub Actions: Enabled
• Actions permissions: Allow all actions and reusable workflows
• Workflow permissions: Read repository contents and packages
• Account: GitHub Free

What I tested

1. Original scheduled workflow

I configured the workflow with two daily cron schedules:

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '55 20 * * *'
    - cron: '20 21 * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:

Neither scheduled run appeared on November 3, 2026 (JST).

2. Different cron schedules

I changed the schedule to a specific test time and later to:

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/10 * * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:

I monitored the Actions history for approximately two hours, but no scheduled runs appeared.

I also replaced the workflow's main command with a simple echo command to rule out application code and external API issues.

3. Manual execution

Manual workflow_dispatch runs work successfully, including run #7 on November 3, 2026.

4. Disable and re-enable

I disabled and re-enabled the workflow, but this did not resolve the issue.

5. Separate minimal workflow

I created a new file at .github/workflows/schedule-probe.yml:

name: Schedule Probe

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '23 * * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  probe:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 2
    steps:
      - name: Check automatic trigger
        run: |
          echo "Event: $GITHUB_EVENT_NAME"
          date -u

At the time of checking, this workflow also had no scheduled run history.

Expected behavior

GitHub Actions should create scheduled workflow runs according to the cron expressions, even if execution is delayed.

Actual behavior

Manual workflow runs succeed, but no scheduled workflow runs are created.

There are no failure logs for the scheduled executions because no corresponding runs appear in the Actions history.

Additional information

I have confirmed that the workflows are committed to the default branch, GitHub Actions is enabled, and the account's billing page shows no billed usage.

Could this be an issue with the GitHub Actions scheduler or schedule registration for my repository? Are there any additional checks or steps I should perform?

Thank you.

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[branislav0]

There's a good chance this isn't your config. Since Nov 2 (~02:10 UTC) several people have reported the same thing – scheduled runs are never created while push and workflow_dispatch work: #211839, #211849, #211880, #211921, #211924. githubstatus.com doesn't list an incident for it yet, so it's worth adding your repo to one of those threads so staff can see how widespread it is.

Things to rule out on your side (from what you wrote, all look fine):

• the workflow with schedule must be on the default branch ✅
• the shortest interval is 5 minutes, so */10 is OK ✅
• in public repos, schedules are disabled after 60 days of inactivity (doesn't apply to private repos)
• runs at the top of the hour are the most likely to be delayed or dropped under load, so 23 * * * * was a good choice ✅

Workaround until it's fixed: since workflow_dispatch works, trigger it from an external cron on any always-on machine:

*/30 * * * * gh workflow run schedule-probe.yml --repo OWNER/REPO

or call POST /repos/OWNER/REPO/actions/workflows/schedule-probe.yml/dispatches with {"ref":"main"} using a fine-grained token with Actions: write. Note that github.event_name will then be workflow_dispatch instead of schedule, so update any if: conditions that check for schedule.

[suibfh]

Thank you for looking into this and sharing the related reports. This is very helpful!

I'll keep an eye on the discussions and wait for further updates before making more changes to my workflow.