Branches list mismatch between the mobile and web app in Actions Workflow

[ilchebedelovski]

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Question

What GitHub Actions topic or product is this about?

Workflow Deployment

Discussion Details

I’m unable to see recently created branches when manually triggering a GitHub Actions workflow via the web UI. However, those same branches are visible when I trigger the workflow from the GitHub mobile app.

I’m not sure whether this behavior is specific to branches created by Copilot agents, but there does appear to be an inconsistency: the mobile app offers a broader and more up-to-date list of branches compared to the web interface.

[DavitEgoian]

This often happens with new branches, especially those created by automation tools or agents. The web list for the workflow_dispatch event relies on the workflow file actually existing on the default branch (usually main) to even show the run button. If the workflow file is present on the default branch, the dropdown list of branches should theoretically show everything, but it can get stale.

As a quick workaround, you can try manually typing the branch name in the web UI if it lets you, or stick to the mobile app for now since it is working. If you are comfortable with the command line, you can also trigger the workflow using the GitHub CLI to bypass the UI entirely:

gh workflow run <workflow-name> --ref <branch-name>

This commands forces the workflow to run on the specific branch you want, ignoring whether the web list has updated or not.

[joaoleandrobmanfrimmanfrim-a11y]

[saitejabandaru-in]

This usually happens because the two UIs query different sources of truth for branch data.

The web Actions UI populates the branch dropdown from refs that exist on the default branch’s remote and that are indexed for workflow_dispatch. If a branch was created very recently (especially by a Copilot agent or automation), it may exist in the repo but not yet be indexed for the workflow UI, so it won’t appear immediately in the web dropdown.

The mobile app uses a more direct ref listing from the GitHub API, which is why it often shows newly created branches sooner.

This is especially noticeable for:
– Branches created by automation (Copilot, bots, GitHub Actions)
– Branches that have not yet had a workflow run
– Branches that haven’t been fetched by the UI cache

Once a workflow runs on that branch, or a commit is pushed and indexed, the web UI usually catches up and the branch becomes selectable.

So this isn’t a Copilot-specific issue — it’s a caching / indexing difference between the web Actions UI and the mobile client.

[github-actions[bot]]

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