exceeded the maximum execution time CI/CD Origin: Build & delivery Last updated 25 Oct 2026

GitHub Actions: The job running on runner GitHub Actions 12 has exceeded the maximum execution time of 360 minutes

A job ran longer than its time limit — your timeout-minutes, or the 6-hour (360 minute) platform limit — and was cancelled.

Exact message you may see has exceeded the maximum execution time of 360 minutesThe job running on runner has exceeded the maximum execution timeexceeded the maximum execution timeThe operation was canceled timeout-minutes
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Seen on: GitHub Actions

Meaning

Most such jobs are not slow but stuck: a test waiting for input, a hung network call, an unfinished background process, or a missing --yes flag. Set a sensible timeout-minutes, add timeouts to commands, and look at the last log lines to see where it stopped.

Common causes

  • A command waiting for interactive input
  • Hanging network call or deadlocked test
  • Background process keeping the step alive
  • Legitimately long job on a small runner
  • Matrix leg or service container never becoming healthy

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Add timeout-minutes: 15 to jobs/steps so hangs fail fast
  2. Use timeout 10m cmd and non-interactive flags (-y, --yes)
  3. Split long work or use a larger runner

Detailed fix by platform

GitHub Actions

  1. timeout-minutes can be set on the job or on a single step
  2. Add --no-input / CI=true to tools that prompt

Code examples

Fail fast on hangs

yaml
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 20
    steps:
      - name: Integration tests
        timeout-minutes: 10
        run: timeout 9m npm run test:integration

How to diagnose

  1. Last log — Where did output stop?
  2. Prompt — Anything waiting for input?
  3. Limit — timeout-minutes set?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Build & delivery. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

API rate limit exceeded — GitHub Actions: HttpError: API rate limit exceeded for installation ID 123456 / secondary rate limit (CI/CD)API rate limit exceed…Cache not found / Unable to reserve cache — GitHub Actions: Cache not found for input keys: npm-Linux-abc123 / Failed to save: Unable to reserve cache with key, another job may be creating this cache (CI/CD)Cache not found / Una…Credentials could not be loaded — GitHub Actions: Error: Credentials could not be loaded, please check your action inputs: Could not load credentials from any providers (CI/CD)Credentials could not…execution took longer than 1h0m0s — GitLab CI: ERROR: Job failed: execution took longer than 1h0m0s seconds (CI/CD)execution took longer…The runner has received a shutdown signal — GitHub Actions: The runner has received a shutdown signal. This can happen when the runner service is stopped, or a manually started runner is canceled (CI/CD)The runner has receiv…Too long with no output — CircleCI: Too long with no output (exceeded 10m0s): context deadline exceeded (CI/CD)Too long with no outp…Unable to download artifact — GitHub Actions: Error: Unable to download artifact(s): Artifact not found for name: build (CI/CD)Unable to download ar…exceeded …

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