Scheduled GitHub Actions workflow does not start, but manual runs work.

[brands4hair-dk]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Workflow Configuration

Discussion Details

Our GitHub Actions workflow is enabled on the default branch (main) of a private repository. The schedule is 0 7 * * 1-5, which should trigger a run at 07:00 UTC every weekday.

No scheduled runs appeared for November 9 or 10, 2026. We also added a test for November 10 at 13:00 UTC, about four minutes before the scheduled time. At 13:40 UTC that day, the Actions API still returned zero runs when filtered by event=schedule.

Manual runs of the same workflow succeed, and push and pull request CI runs also work. Disabling and re-enabling the workflow did not resolve the issue.

Is there a way to verify that GitHub registered the schedule? What should we check next when no scheduled run appears in the run history?

[8KOHAN]

The cron expression 0 7 * * 1-5 is valid, so I would focus on the workflow registration and GitHub's scheduling behavior.

A few things worth checking:

1. Verify the workflow file on the default branch. GitHub only triggers scheduled workflows when the workflow file exists on the repository's default branch. Confirm that the schedule event is defined under on: and that the committed version contains the expected cron expression.

2. Check the workflow's associated actor. Scheduled workflows can stop running if the account associated with the schedule is suspended, deleted, or deprovisioned. GitHub documents that a user with write access can reactivate a deactivated schedule by committing a change to the cron expression.

3. Test a different minute of the hour. GitHub warns that scheduled events can be delayed or even dropped during periods of high Actions load, particularly at the beginning of an hour. Try a schedule such as 17 7 * * 1-5 rather than running at minute 0.

4. Check the workflow runs through the REST API. Query the workflow-specific endpoint with event=schedule and inspect the returned run list. An empty result confirms that no matching runs are visible through that endpoint, but it does not tell you whether GitHub registered the schedule internally.

As far as the documented interface goes, there isn't a public API endpoint that directly confirms a cron schedule has been registered by GitHub's scheduler.

Since manual, push, and pull request runs work, I would first verify the default-branch workflow file and the associated actor, then test a non-zero minute. If scheduled runs are still missing, collect the workflow file, timestamps, and API results and report the issue to GitHub Support.

References:

• https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflows-and-actions/events-that-trigger-workflows
• https://docs.github.com/en/actions/how-tos/troubleshoot-workflows
• https://docs.github.com/en/rest/actions/workflow-runs

[brands4hair-dk]

Thank you. We confirmed that the schedule is present on the default branch. Three scheduled runs have now appeared. The two runs on November 10 were about 8 hours 25 minutes and 7 hours 25 minutes late. The November 11 run was about 7 hours 54 minutes late.

That narrows our question: is there any way to investigate delays of this length beyond trying a different minute of the hour?