GitHub Actions scheduled workflows never trigger, but workflow_dispatch and push work

[sickpeoples]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

ARC (Actions Runner Controller)

Discussion Details

I'm experiencing an issue where GitHub Actions workflows are not being triggered automatically by the schedule event.

Repository: https://github.com/sickpeoples/iNews

Environment:

Default branch: main

Workflow state: active

Runner: ubuntu-latest

Manual trigger (workflow_dispatch): Working

Push trigger: Working

Scheduled trigger (schedule): No runs created

Original schedule:

on:
schedule:
- cron: '30 2 * * 1-5'
workflow_dispatch:

This should run every Monday–Friday at 02:30 UTC (09:30 WIB).

I also created a separate diagnostic workflow:

name: Test GitHub Scheduler

on:
schedule:
- cron: '7,22,37,52 * * * *'
workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
check-schedule:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Check Scheduler
run: |
echo "Scheduler successfully executed"
echo "Event: ${{ github.event_name }}"
date -u

The diagnostic workflow runs successfully when triggered manually, but no scheduled runs appear.

Checks performed:

Confirmed the default branch is main.

Confirmed the workflow state is active.

Confirmed the workflow exists under .github/workflows/.

Verified that manual executions succeed.

Verified that push-triggered executions work.

Tried schedules in both Asia/Jakarta and UTC.

Checked scheduled executions using the GitHub CLI.

GitHub CLI result:

gh run list --repo sickpeoples/iNews --workflow test-schedule.yml --event schedule --limit 10

no runs found

The workflow was committed on October 15, 2026, and I checked after multiple expected schedule times had passed.

Expected behavior: GitHub Actions should automatically create a workflow run at the configured cron times.

Actual behavior: No workflow run is created for the schedule event, while manual triggers succeed.

Is there a known issue affecting scheduled workflows, or any additional repository-level or account-level checks I should perform?

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[nmloc]

I looked at your repo from the outside, and your config is not the problem. Both daily-automation.yml and test-schedule.yml on main are valid, both workflows show as active, and main is the default branch. Still, gh run list --event schedule returns nothing for either of them, ever, even for the 7,22,37,52 * * * * test that should have fired several times by now. githubstatus.com shows no Actions incident either.

A few things worth trying, in order:

1. Re-register the schedule by toggling the workflow:

   gh workflow disable test-schedule.yml --repo sickpeoples/iNews
   gh workflow enable  test-schedule.yml --repo sickpeoples/iNews

2. Push a commit that changes the cron line itself (e.g. '8,23,38,53 * * * *'). Scheduled workflows run from the latest commit on the default branch (docs), so a fresh commit to the cron line is a cheap way to make GitHub pick it up again.
3. Give it time. The same docs say scheduled runs can be delayed or dropped under high load, especially at the start of every hour. Your :07/:22/... minutes already avoid the top of the hour.

If there is still not a single schedule run after a couple of hours, nothing in the repo can fix it. It's then something GitHub has to look at for your account or repository, so I'd open a ticket at support.github.com and include the repo, the workflow file, and the gh run list ... --event schedule output.