Feature Request: Show warning on PRs when event-based workflows are suspended due to inactivity
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- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 5.9k
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Description
Describe the enhancement
When GitHub Actions workflows are disabled due to 60+ days of inactivity, event-based triggers (such as push and pull_request) are suspended. However, scheduled workflows may still run, and there is currently no indication on pull requests that workflows are suspended. This leads to significant confusion for maintainers and contributors, as PR-triggered workflows simply do not appear or run, with no error or warning in the PR UI.
I suggest that you display a clear warning banner or message on the PR page when event-based GitHub Actions workflows are suspended due to inactivity. The warning should inform users that workflows will not be triggered until they are re-enabled by a repository admin. This will help users diagnose workflow issues more quickly and avoid wasted debugging effort.
Additionally, for users who push code directly to branches (without using PRs), a similar warning in the branch or commit status/checks views would be helpful, as there is no dedicated "push UI". This would ensure that users are not confused when workflows do not run after a direct push due to inactivity-based suspension.
Additional information
- Currently, only the Actions tab shows a banner about workflows being suspended, but this is easy to miss if users interact mainly with PRs or branch commits.
- Scheduled workflows may still run, further confusing users.
- Clearer warnings in relevant UI locations would help users understand and remedy the situation faster.
Thank you for considering this improvement!
(drafted by copilot based on an interactive debugging session with @shankari, reviewed before submission)
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
The issue concerns the pull request page, branch or commit status/checks views, and the existing banner in the Actions tab; start by comparing how these views expose workflow state. Done means users see a clear warning when event-based workflows are suspended due to inactivity, including how to re-enable them, without implying that scheduled workflows are suspended.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- github-actions
- Domain
- ci-cd, devops
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100