GitHub Actions startup_failure with synthetic BuildFailed workflow in private repository

[mipupa]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

ARC (Actions Runner Controller)

Discussion Details

Hi,

I have a private repository where GitHub Actions workflows are registered as active, but every workflow run fails immediately before any job is created.

Repository:
https://github.com/mipupa/application-foundation

Valid workflow:

• Name: quality-gates
• Workflow ID: 362639064
• Path: .github/workflows/quality-gates.yml
• State: active

Example failed run:

• Run ID: 35510693460
• Event: push
• Conclusion: startup_failure
• Jobs: 0
• Logs: none
• Check runs: none

The failed run is associated with a synthetic workflow entry:

• Workflow ID: 362640918
• Name: empty
• Path: BuildFailed
• State: deleted

Repository Actions permissions:

• enabled: true
• allowed_actions: all
• sha_pinning_required: false

I also created a completely minimal independent test workflow:

name: actions-probe

on:
workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
probe:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- run: echo "GitHub Actions works"

This workflow was successfully registered:

• Name: actions-probe
• Workflow ID: 362644046
• State: active

However, a manual workflow_dispatch run also failed almost immediately:

• Run ID: 35511029124
• Duration: about 1 second
• No useful job logs

The main workflow has also been validated locally, and the project quality gates pass locally.

This looks like a repository-level GitHub Actions dispatcher/registry issue rather than an error inside the workflow jobs themselves.

Could someone please advise whether this is related to a stale/orphaned BuildFailed workflow registration, a repository-level Actions issue, or another GitHub-side problem?

Thanks.

[github-actions[bot]]

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Thanks