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

[syerrago]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

ARC (Actions Runner Controller)

Discussion Details

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!

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[kova1max]

Things that make a schedule silently produce no runs, roughly in order of likelihood:

1. Registration happens on push to the default branch. The schedule is (re)registered when the workflow file on main changes. You've confirmed that, but note the first slot after a change can be skipped while it registers.
2. Delays and drops. Scheduled runs are best-effort. Under load they can be delayed by tens of minutes or dropped, especially around the top of the hour. 35 5 is a good choice for that, but still watch for a run arriving late rather than not at all.
3. The schedule actor. Scheduled runs run as the user who last modified the cron line. If that account is restricted or no longer has access, runs aren't created.
4. Inactivity (public repos only). Schedules auto-disable after 60 days without repository activity. gh workflow list --all would show disabled_inactivity; gh workflow enable daily-call.yml fixes it.

The practical way to "refresh" the registration is to change the cron value in a commit on main, for example 35 5 to 36 5, pushed by your own account. That re-registers the schedule and makes you the actor. Then wait for the next slot without any other changes.

If it still doesn't fire after that for a day or two, it's on GitHub's side and worth a ticket at https://support.github.com with the repo and workflow name.