Orphaned "deleted" Actions workflow (path "BuildFailed") blocks all PR check-runs

[online2ipayment-bot]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Workflow Configuration

Discussion Details

Repo: zilokki-bot/black-rock-workspace

A GitHub-side orphan workflow makes GitHub create a startup_failure run before any
jobs on every pull_request event, so no real check-runs are ever created and normal
workflows (.github/workflows/gate.yml) never start.

Facts:

• GET /repos/zilokki-bot/black-rock-workspace/actions/workflows/330472602 -> 200
  path="BuildFailed", name="", state="deleted", created_at 2026-08-09T12:21:33Z
• It is ABSENT from GET /actions/workflows (list).
• No "BuildFailed" file exists anywhere in git; no .github/workflows/BuildFailed;
  no git history for such a file.
• PUT /actions/workflows/330472602/disable -> 403 "Unable to disable a workflow
  that is not active."
• DELETE /actions/workflows/330472602 -> 404.
• Repo Actions enabled=true, allowed_actions=all.

Reproduces on a CLEAN probe PR from main (only a docs file changed):

• PR #2498, head 793bde20a..., run_id 31326341048, workflow_id 330472602,
  path "BuildFailed", conclusion startup_failure, jobs total_count 0.
• Also after a main workflow-registry refresh commit (e5cd154f2): run 31327515191,
  same BuildFailed/startup_failure, still 0 check-runs.

Impact: every PR in the repo gets 0 real check-runs. This is a GitHub-side
orphaned/deleted workflow registry record; it cannot be removed from the repo side
(no file, disable blocked by state=deleted, delete 404). Requesting staff to remove
or repair workflow id 330472602 for this repo.

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[mhmdwaelanwr]

Based on the evidence you posted, I don't think there is a repository-side fix left here.

The strongest indicators are:

• GET /actions/workflows/330472602 still resolves the workflow ID;
• that workflow reports state: deleted;
• it is absent from the normal workflow list;
• there is no corresponding file or Git history entry;
• disabling it fails because it is not active;
• every PR event is still being associated with that deleted workflow ID and fails with startup_failure before any jobs/check-runs are created.

One detail worth clarifying: GitHub's documented workflow REST API provides endpoints to list/get, enable, disable, and dispatch workflows, but there is no documented endpoint to delete a workflow definition itself. So a 404 from:

DELETE /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/330472602

is not surprising and is not a supported remediation path.

startup_failure is also a valid GitHub Checks conclusion, and GitHub Actions normally creates check suites/check runs from workflow execution. In your case the failure is happening before job creation, which matches the fact that the affected runs have zero jobs and no normal PR checks.

Given that you have already reproduced this from a clean PR and after refreshing the workflow registry from main, I would stop modifying workflow YAML. Further repository-side changes are unlikely to repair a stale workflow record that is still being resolved internally by ID.

I would escalate this to GitHub Support and include exactly:

• repository: zilokki-bot/black-rock-workspace
• orphan workflow ID: 330472602
• returned state/path: deleted / BuildFailed
• a current affected PR and run ID
• the clean reproduction commit SHA
• the workflow list response showing ID 330472602 is absent
• the direct workflow lookup showing the ID still exists
• the zero-job startup_failure run payload

The key request to Support should be to remove or repair the stale workflow registry entry for workflow ID 330472602.

I would not try to recreate a file named BuildFailed, rename the real workflow, or repeatedly disable/enable Actions for the repository unless Support specifically asks for that. Those actions could mask the symptom without fixing the orphaned backend record.

So the practical answer is: this appears to require GitHub staff intervention; there is no documented repository or REST API operation that can remove this deleted workflow definition from the registry.

[blutterback]

Same orphan on ClearStrideHQ/ClearStride-Marketplace: workflow id 344058418, path=BuildFailed, state=deleted, created 2026-08-27T19:23:57Z. Disable 403, delete 404, 100/100 newest runs are zero-job startup_failure including previously-green workflow_dispatch. Staff request: remove/repair that registry row. Packet: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/206023

[blutterback]

Same orphan on ClearStrideHQ/ClearStride-Marketplace — full packet for staff

This is the same path=BuildFailed / state=deleted registry row. Our API-created discussion was auto-closed for missing the UI template (https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/206023), so the request lives here.

• Orphan workflow id: 344058418 (W_kwDOQMgJks4Ugeoy)
• GET /actions/workflows/344058418 → 200 path=BuildFailed name="" state=deleted created 2026-08-27T19:23:57Z
• Absent from GET /actions/workflows
• No BuildFailed file in git on main or staging
• disable/enable → 403 "not active"; DELETE workflow → 404
• Repo Actions enabled=true, allowed_actions=all
• After 19:23Z, Actions events are 1-second startup_failure with zero jobs (100/100 sampled). GitHub Status operational.

Reproductions:

• Last healthy Deploy Shared Staging: 33102543629 push fd3f0d5c53220e8310410797a3cb983a2e7e4c91 at 2026-08-27T18:15:14Z
• Ghost intercept (later deleted as a run-record probe; workflow row remains): was run 33132503187, workflow_id=344058418
• Still-present ghost-style run: 33132531861 workflow_run, startup_failure
• Real Deploy Shared Staging dispatch: 33132522999 workflow_id=335671352, SHA 716e28fcba8bba84abf37b586d1b95feb69fa8cd, 1s startup_failure, jobs=0
• YAML at the first failing tip 727cd9cbc is byte-identical to the last green Hosting publish

Request: remove or repair workflow registry entry 344058418 on ClearStrideHQ/ClearStride-Marketplace. Please do not ask us to recreate a root file named BuildFailed unless staff requires that.

[dan-builds-robots]

Same orphan on private repo Swype-Inc/sorce (org on the free plan). Adding the packet so staff can purge this row too.

• Orphan workflow id: 346303771 (W_kwDOT8BJv84UpC0b)
• GET /repos/Swype-Inc/sorce/actions/workflows/346303771 → 200 path=BuildFailed name="" state=deleted created 2026-08-30T21:08:44-07:00 (2026-08-31T04:08:44Z)
• Absent from GET /actions/workflows
• No BuildFailed file in git; blob URL 404s: https://github.com/Swype-Inc/sorce/blob/main/BuildFailed
• disable/enable → 403 "Unable to disable/enable a workflow that is not active"
• DELETE workflow → 404
• Repo Actions enabled=true, allowed_actions=all
• GitHub Status: All Systems Operational at time of writing

The row was created in the same second as merge of PR #449 (OSB TypeScript only — no workflow file change). Last healthy ci.yml run: https://github.com/Swype-Inc/sorce/actions/runs/33356016232 at 2026-08-31T04:07:42Z. Every later event is a 1-second startup_failure with zero jobs, workflow_id=346303771.

Reproductions (still present):

• Merge to main: https://github.com/Swype-Inc/sorce/actions/runs/33358115752 (push, #465, startup_failure, 0 jobs)
• Feature-branch push: https://github.com/Swype-Inc/sorce/actions/runs/33359636322 (push, startup_failure, 0 jobs)
• PR event: https://github.com/Swype-Inc/sorce/actions/runs/33359651917 (pull_request, startup_failure, 0 jobs)

ci.yml, deploy-osb.yml, deploy-status.yml, deploy-answer.yml have not started since 04:08Z. We cannot deploy the monorepo.

Please remove or repair workflow id 346303771 on Swype-Inc/sorce.

[jollysatodiya01-ops]

Affected repository: jollysatodiya01-ops/numbers. Confirmed orphaned BuildFailed Actions failure. Orphan workflow 325528259 returns name="", path=BuildFailed, state=deleted and is absent from the active workflow list. Actions is enabled with allowed_actions=all and read-only workflow permissions. Latest push run 33776450856 for commit 394f0ef ended startup_failure with zero jobs; earlier push 33775450415 for c2ca435 did the same. Original active workflow manual dispatches already failed pre-job on candidate b208061: Quality Gate 31512250160 and Migrations 31512250218. Renaming the valid workflows created active registrations 349475356 and 349475355, but manual runs 33775308004 and 33775307622 still ended startup_failure with zero jobs. This rules out workflow steps, dependencies, checkout, runner labels, runner type, and a single wedged filename. No production credentials or financial payloads are involved. Request: please correlate this repository with the other cases and have Actions engineering purge/reindex the stale BuildFailed workflow registration and repository event-dispatch state, or provide the supported self-service repair.