Actions runs stuck queued with zero jobs; cancel and force-cancel return HTTP 409

[jvisker]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Workflow Deployment

Discussion Details

Discussion Type

Bug

Feature/Topic Area

Workflow Deployment

Discussion Details

Resubmitting discussion #212707, which was closed because it was not created through the required UI template.

The original report describes two manually dispatched runs stuck in queued with zero jobs:

• Repository: https://github.com/NCHU-NLP-Lab/docker-ml-dev
• Workflow: .github/workflows/build.yml
• Runs: 42979897223 and 42982107980

According to that report, normal cancellation says the first run is completed, while force-cancel returns HTTP 409 saying it has not been queued yet. Subsequent queries still show queued. The workflow reportedly has no concurrency group or deployment environment.

I have independently encountered the same pattern: a run reports queued, has zero jobs and no pending deployment approvals, and both cancellation endpoints return HTTP 409:

Cannot cancel a workflow run that has not been queued yet.

GitHub’s troubleshooting documentation describes these symptoms as potentially indicating an abnormal or out-of-sync run.

Is there a supported recovery procedure after both cancellation endpoints fail, or must GitHub Support reconcile the run? What is the appropriate private escalation channel for affected run identifiers?

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[kobycarson67]

I am seeing the same issue on another account. Two workflow runs created on November 11, 2026 at about 20:24 UTC are still queued with zero jobs. A cancellation attempt returned HTTP 409: "Cannot cancel a workflow run that has not been queued yet."

I contacted GitHub Support, but the ticket was closed with a direction to self-service resources, including Community Discussions. Is there a supported way to recover these stuck runs, or an escalation path for accounts in this situation?