GitHub Actions schedule event never triggers in a new private repository, while push and workflow_dispatch work

[xggbest]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Schedule & Cron Jobs

Discussion Details

Summary

GitHub Actions scheduled workflows never create a workflow run in a new
private repository. The same workflow runs successfully with both
workflow_dispatch and push.

No run with the schedule event is created, even after waiting through
multiple expected cron windows.

The workflow shown below is a minimal diagnostic workflow created solely to
reproduce and isolate the scheduling problem. It is not the production
workflow.

The production workflow in the same repository exhibits the same behavior:
manual workflow_dispatch runs succeed, but no schedule event is created.

Environment

• Repository visibility: Private
• Repository type: Personal repository, not a fork
• Default branch: master
• Workflow path: .github/workflows/test.yml
• Runner: ubuntu-24.04
• Date observed: October 7, 2026
• GitHub Status: Actions reported operational

Minimal reproduction

name: Test scheduled trigger

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

  schedule:
    - cron: "7/10
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04

    steps:
      - name: Show trigger information
        run: |
          echo "Event: ${{ github.event_name }}"
          date -u

Evidence

The following screenshot shows that both workflow_dispatch and push
runs succeed, while no run with event type schedule is created:

Expected behavior

A workflow run with event type schedule should be created at minutes
07, 17, 27, 37, 47, and 57 of each hour.

Actual behavior

• workflow_dispatch runs succeed.
• push runs succeed immediately.
• No workflow run with event type schedule is created.
• The workflow exists on the default branch.
• The workflow is active and GitHub Actions is enabled.

Troubleshooting completed

• Confirmed master is the default branch.
• Confirmed the workflow is under .github/workflows/.
• Confirmed the repository has recent activity.
• Confirmed manual and push-triggered runs succeed.
• Tested both */5 * * * * and 7/10 * * * *.
• Waited through multiple expected schedule windows.
• GitHub Status reported Actions as operational.

This appears to be a scheduler registration or event-delivery issue rather
than a workflow execution issue.

Could GitHub staff confirm whether this is a known issue affecting new private
repositories and whether the schedule registration can be reset?

Related reports

• https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/201354
• https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/208110
• https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/209036

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[ahbaqdadi]

The reproduction in the post is truncated at - cron: "7/10: the remaining four fields and closing quote are missing. I checked the pasted block with a YAML parser; it fails to parse, while restoring that line makes it valid:

on:
  push:
    branches: [master]
  schedule:
    - cron: "7/10 * * * *"
  workflow_dispatch:

That expression represents minutes 07, 17, 27, 37, 47 and 57, in UTC unless you explicitly set a timezone. GitHub documents both the five fields and the starting-value/step syntax.

This may just be a copying error in the post; it does not establish the cause of your private repository’s failure. A useful next check is to read the exact committed file on master, rather than infer its contents from a successful manual run (which can use a selected branch):

# Replace OWNER and REPO; this is a read-only GET.
gh api -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.raw+json" \
  "repos/OWNER/REPO/contents/.github/workflows/test.yml?ref=master"

Contents API reference. Check whether that returned file has the complete schedule block. If it does, correcting the discussion snippet and recording the commit SHA plus the UTC interval you observed would give GitHub staff a reproducible report. GitHub documents that schedules use the latest default-branch commit and can be delayed or dropped under load; that alone does not prove a registration fault or supply a documented reset procedure.

No need to make the private repository public or share tokens/logs. A redacted trigger block is enough to clarify this discrepancy.

AI-assisted with Codex; YAML syntax checked locally. This is a community diagnostic suggestion, not an official GitHub response.