My workflow works half the time, and the reasons for it are pending deployments, which there are none pending or in progress

[SSMG4]

Why are you starting this discussion?

Bug

What GitHub Actions topic or product is this about?

Workflow Deployment

Discussion Details

So, this has been happening since basically the start of my repo, and i havent found any ways to fix it. When it happens it always says to cancel a specific deployment which when you go to see its details, it was deployed successfully before.

[irfan-sec]

Hi @SSMG4,

This is a known frustration with GitHub Actions deployments—sometimes a workflow gets “stuck” because GitHub thinks there’s a pending deployment, even when previous deployments show as completed.

What’s likely happening:

GitHub Actions keeps track of in-progress and pending deployments to prevent conflicts.
Sometimes, if a deployment job fails, is cancelled, or GitHub’s internal state is out-of-sync, it leaves a “pending” record that blocks new deployments—even when the UI shows the previous one as completed.
This can cause your new workflow runs to fail with a “pending deployment” error, forcing you to manually cancel or clear a deployment that doesn’t actually exist.
How to fix or work around:

Manually Cancel Stuck Deployments:
Go to the “Deployments” tab (under “Actions” or in the repo sidebar), and look for any deployments marked as “in progress” or “pending.” Cancel them if possible.
Check for Workflow Logic Issues:
Make sure your workflow always reaches a “deployment finished” or “deployment failed” state, even on errors. Use if: always() or add cleanup steps.
Use Deployment Protection Rules Carefully:
If you have protection rules or environments, make sure they aren’t blocking the deployment or requiring manual approval.
Force a New Deployment:
Sometimes, pushing a trivial commit (like updating the README) and rerunning the workflow can clear the stuck state.
Contact GitHub Support:
If the problem persists, open a ticket with GitHub Support and share details/screenshots (like the one above) they can clear stuck deployments on the backend if needed.

[SSMG4]

i tried forcing a new deployment by updating the README and it went through, all though im not sure its actually fixed, so ill wait for one of my automatic deployments and see if its actually fixed. If not, ill try and contact GitHub Support, since im pretty sure its none of the possible issues above Foce A New Deployment

[Omprakash3104]

I understand how frustrating this must be - dealing with a deployment that says it's stuck even though it actually succeeded. This is a pretty common headache that many of us run into with GitHub Actions.

The main reason this happens is that sometimes the workflow doesn't properly tell GitHub "Hey, I'm all done here!" so GitHub keeps showing the deployment as in progress even after it's finished. It's like when you finish a phone call but forget to hit the end button - the line stays open.

A few things that usually help:

First, check if there are any environment protection rules that might be waiting for approval that's already been given. Sometimes the system gets confused about whether an approval is still needed.

You might also want to add a specific step in your workflow to explicitly mark the deployment as complete. Sometimes the automatic status updates don't work as expected.

If it's a recurring issue, there's a way to add concurrency controls to prevent multiple deployments from overlapping and confusing each other.

The good news is that since your deployment is actually working correctly, this is likely just a communication issue between your workflow and GitHub's UI rather than a problem with your actual deployment process.

If you'd like to share your workflow file, I might be able to spot where the status reporting might be getting lost in translation.

[SSMG4]

If you'd like some info, when i started the repo, everything went smoothly, until one deployment failed, then another, and another and it spiraled into 3/10 deployments succeed. Its been like that for almost 5 months. I tried forcing a new deployment by updating my README and it went through, but im not sure if its fixed so ill wait for one of my automatic deployments. If not fixed then ill contact GitHub Support. Thankyou for your reply!

[seamusrobertmurphy]

Hi @SSMG4, here's a workflow check that I use for similar persistent deployment state problems. This often resolves the persistent "phantom pending deployment" issue you're experiencing.

Add Explicit Deployment Status Management

- name: Start Deployment
  uses: actions/github-script@v7
  with:
    script: |
      await github.rest.repos.createDeploymentStatus({
        owner: context.repo.owner,
        repo: context.repo.repo,
        deployment_id: '${{ steps.deployment.outputs.deployment_id }}',
        state: 'in_progress'
      });

# Your deployment steps here

- name: Mark Deployment Complete
  if: success()
  uses: actions/github-script@v7
  with:
    script: |
      await github.rest.repos.createDeploymentStatus({
        owner: context.repo.owner,
        repo: context.repo.repo,
        deployment_id: '${{ steps.deployment.outputs.deployment_id }}',
        state: 'success'
      });

- name: Mark Deployment Failed
  if: failure()
  uses: actions/github-script@v7
  with:
    script: |
      await github.rest.repos.createDeploymentStatus({
        owner: context.repo.owner,
        repo: context.repo.repo,
        deployment_id: '${{ steps.deployment.outputs.deployment_id }}',
        state: 'failure'
      });

Documentation

• [GitHub Deployment API](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/deployments/deployments) - Official deployment status management
• [Workflow Concurrency](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#concurrency) - Prevent overlapping deployments

[SSMG4]

Hey! Thanks for your advice. Ill try this script once i have some free time has i have a lot more stuff to maintain right now ):