Schedule never creates runs in a new private repo, but workflow_dispatch works

[AlessiaInitiative]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Schedule & Cron Jobs

Discussion Details

Two workflows on main (the only and default branch) of a private repository I created on 2026-11-08 have never produced a scheduled run. Manual workflow_dispatch runs of the same files start and succeed.

• The hourly workflow has had a schedule on main since 16:46 UTC. It used 17 * * * *, then 23 * * * *, then */5 * * * * from 21:42 to 22:04 UTC.
• At 22:18 UTC, I added the minimal workflow below as a new file to check whether a fresh workflow would register.
• A later push at 23:22 UTC, with no workflow changes, made no difference.
• gh workflow list shows both workflows as active, and Actions is enabled for the repository.

After multiple expected trigger times, gh run list --event schedule still returns no scheduled runs for either workflow. The Actions UI shows only manual runs. There are no failed, queued, or skipped scheduled runs—no scheduled run records exist.

name: Schedule probe
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/5 * * * *'
permissions: {}
jobs:
  heartbeat:
    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
    timeout-minutes: 2
    steps:
      - name: Record trigger
        run: |
          echo "event=${{ github.event_name }}"
          date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'

Is there a repository, account, or plan condition that prevents schedule events from creating runs, or a known registration delay for new private repositories? I’ve omitted the repository name because it is private. If GitHub staff need it, I can provide it through a private Support ticket.