Workflow indexer not parsing triggers — workflow_dispatch returns 422, event triggers silent

[varunmc]

Summary

The GitHub Actions workflow indexer appears stuck on a private repository. The workflow YAML is valid and present on the default branch, but GitHub does not recognize any of its triggers.

Symptoms

1. workflow_dispatch returns HTTP 422 — Workflow does not have 'workflow_dispatch' trigger despite workflow_dispatch: being present in the file.
2. Event-based triggers (issues, issue_comment) do not fire — labeling an issue or posting a comment produces no workflow run.
3. The "Run workflow" button does not appear in the Actions UI.
4. The workflow name in the REST API returns the file path instead of the YAML name: value — indicating the file content was never fully parsed by the indexer.
5. Only implicit push-triggered runs appear (the automatic runs GitHub creates when a workflow file itself changes).

What we tried

Attempt	Result
No-op commit to main	Indexer unchanged
Edit file via GitHub web UI	Indexer unchanged
Rename file to force new workflow ID	New workflow also broken
workflow_dispatch: {} vs bare workflow_dispatch:	No difference
Waiting 30+ minutes	No recovery

Diagnostic evidence

# Workflow file is valid and present on main
$ gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/contents/.github/workflows/workflow.yml?ref=main \
    --jq '.content' | base64 -d | head -15
name: MyWorkflow
on:
  issues:
    types: [labeled, closed]
  issue_comment:
    types: [created]
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 5 * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  ...

# API shows file path as name — not the YAML `name:` value
$ gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/{id} --jq '{name, state, updated_at}'
{"name": ".github/workflows/workflow.yml", "state": "active", "updated_at": "..."}

# Dispatch fails with 422
$ gh workflow run workflow.yml
# HTTP 422: Workflow does not have 'workflow_dispatch' trigger

The name field returning the file path instead of the YAML name: value is a reliable indicator that the indexer never parsed the file content.

Timing

This began on 2026-03-12, coinciding with the "Actions failures to download (401 Unauthorized)" incident. Workflow file changes made during the degraded window appear to have been missed by the indexer, with no recovery after the incident resolved.

The same workflow was functioning correctly earlier the same day — all event triggers were firing and workflow_dispatch worked.

Expected behavior

The workflow indexer should parse the file content on push to the default branch, register all declared triggers, and reflect the YAML name: value in the API. workflow_dispatch should return 204 and event-based triggers should produce runs.

Question

Is there a way to force the workflow indexer to re-parse a workflow file? Or is this a known issue during/after Actions incidents?

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[varunmc]

Resolved — root cause identified.

This turned out to be a client-side issue, not a platform bug. The workflow file contained ~600 lines of inline JavaScript in actions/github-script script: | blocks. GitHub's workflow indexer silently fails to parse triggers when the file exceeds a certain complexity threshold — the YAML is valid, but the indexer never processes it.

Symptoms:

• workflow_dispatch API returns 422
• Event-based triggers (issues, issue_comment) silently don't fire
• Workflow name in the REST API shows the file path instead of the YAML name: value
• "Run workflow" button absent from the Actions UI

Fix: Extract large inline scripts to external .js files under .github/scripts/ and reference them via require(). Indexer immediately recovered.

Diagnostic shortcut: If the workflow name in gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows shows the file path instead of your YAML name: value, the indexer hasn't parsed your file. Check file size/complexity.

Hope this saves someone else a few hours. Closing as resolved.