Waiting for a runner to pick up this job CI/CD Origin: Build & delivery Last updated 25 Oct 2026

GitHub Actions: Waiting for a runner to pick up this job… (job stays queued — No runner matching the specified labels)

The job is queued and never starts — no available runner has all the labels in runs-on, runners are offline/busy, or the hosted label no longer exists.

Exact message you may see Waiting for a runner to pick up this jobNo runner matching the specified labels was foundRequested labels:Job is waiting for a hosted runner to come onlineThis job is stuck because no runner matches
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Seen on: GitHub Actions Linux

Meaning

runs-on must match a GitHub-hosted label (ubuntu-latest, windows-latest) or a self-hosted runner that has every listed label. Typos, retired images, offline runners, concurrency limits and queued larger runners all leave the job waiting. Check the runner status under Settings → Actions → Runners.

Common causes

  • Self-hosted runner offline or without the required labels
  • Typo or retired hosted label (ubuntu-18.04)
  • All runners busy (concurrency or plan limits)
  • Larger-runner group not allowed for this repository
  • Organization runner group excludes the repo

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Compare runs-on with the labels shown for your runners
  2. Start/repair the self-hosted runner service
  3. Use a current hosted label (ubuntu-latest, ubuntu-24.04)

Detailed fix by platform

GitHub Actions

  1. runs-on: [self-hosted, linux, x64] requires ALL labels to exist on one runner
  2. Settings → Actions → Runners shows Online/Offline and labels

Linux

  1. On the runner host: ./svc.sh status (or systemctl status actions.runner.*) and ./run.sh in the foreground to see connection errors

How to diagnose

  1. Label — Exact labels in runs-on?
  2. Runner — Online and idle?
  3. Limits — Concurrency or runner-group restrictions?

🔧 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…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…Failed to create deployment (Pages not enabled) — GitHub Actions: Error: Failed to create deployment (status: 404) — Ensure GitHub Pages has been enabled (CI/CD)Failed to create depl…No space left on device (runner) — GitHub Actions: System.IO.IOException: No space left on device — the runner's disk is full (CI/CD)No space left on devi…runner registration token invalid — GitLab CI: ERROR: Registering runner... failed runner=abc status=couldn't execute POST against https://gitlab.com/api/v4/runners: 403 Forbidden (CI/CD)runner registration t…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…This job is stuck because you don't have any active runners — GitLab CI: This job is stuck because you don't have any active runners online or available with any of these tags assigned to them (CI/CD)This job is stuck bec…Unable to download artifact — GitHub Actions: Error: Unable to download artifact(s): Artifact not found for name: build (CI/CD)Unable to download ar…Waiting f…

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