slackapi / slackapi/slack-github-action

After v4 upgrade: `webhook-type: webhook-trigger` step delivers duplicate messages, then hangs until the job timeout

Open
#654 7 comments 5 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

needs info question
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
1.3k
Forks
200
Avg merge
2h 59m
Merged PRs (30d)
6

Description

Description

Hi, we use this action in camunda/camunda (public repo) and noticed a strange behavior: After bumping the action from v3.0.5 → v4.0.0 (no other changes), a step using webhook-type: webhook-trigger began delivering the same message multiple times and then hanging with no further log output until the GitHub Actions job hit its timeout-minutes and was cancelled. Reverting to v3.0.5 resolves it.

What type of issue is this? (place an x in one of the [ ])
  • bug
  • enhancement (feature request)
  • question
  • documentation related
  • example code related
  • testing related
  • discussion
Requirements (place an x in each of the [ ])
  • I've read and understood the Contributing guidelines and have done my best effort to follow them.
  • I've read and agree to the Code of Conduct.
  • I've searched for any related issues and avoided creating a duplicate issue.

Bug Report

Filling out the following details about bugs will help us solve your issue sooner.

Reproducible in:

package version: v4.0.0

node version: 22

OS version(s): ubuntu:24.04

Steps to reproduce:

Unchanged across the up/downgrade except the action ref:

- name: Send notification
  uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@dcb1066f776dd043e64d0e8ba94ca15cc7e1875d # v4.0.0
  with:
    webhook: ${{ <secret> }}
    webhook-type: webhook-trigger
    payload: |
      blocks:
        - type: "section"
          text:
            type: "mrkdwn"
            text: "<a Block Kit mrkdwn string>"

Job has timeout-minutes: 5.

Expected result:

On v3.0.5: the step completes in ~1–2s and the message is posted once.

Actual result:

On v4.0.0:

  • The same message is delivered to Slack multiple times (usually 5 copies per run).
  • The step logs its resolved inputs and then produces no further output until the job is cancelled at the timeout — roughly 4+ minutes of silence.

We did not change retries; the logs show the default retries: 5 in both versions.

07:00:01Z  ##[group]Run slackapi/slack-github-action@<v4 sha>
07:00:01Z    webhook: ***
07:00:01Z    webhook-type: webhook-trigger
07:00:01Z    errors: false
07:00:01Z    retries: 5
07:00:01Z  ##[endgroup]
           (no output for ~4m20s)
07:04:21Z  ##[error]The operation was canceled.

(The job started at 06:59:17Z; the cancellation at 07:04:21Z matches timeout-minutes: 5.)

Attachments:

Example failed runs

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the supplied workflow step with slackapi/slack-github-action at v4.0.0, using webhook-type: webhook-trigger and the five-minute job timeout, then compare it with v3.0.5. Trace the action entry point after inputs are resolved, focusing on retries and webhook delivery; done means v4 completes within seconds and posts exactly one message.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
github-actions, javascript, node.js
Domain
ci-cd
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.