cicd timeout ai_generated true

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

ID: cicd/gha-runner-timeout

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82%Fix Rate
86%Confidence
50Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
any active — — —

Root Cause

A GitHub Actions job exceeds the default 6-hour (360-minute) time limit or a custom timeout-minutes value. Usually caused by hanging processes, infinite loops, or builds that are genuinely too slow for the runner.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 88% success Identify and fix the hanging process or optimize the slow build step 
    Add verbose logging to each step, use 'timeout' command for individual processes, check for interactive prompts that block CI, and parallelize test suites
  2. 85% success Split the job into smaller parallel jobs and use matrix strategy 
    Use 'strategy: matrix' to parallelize work across multiple runners. Split test suites with tools like jest --shard or pytest-split

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Simply increase timeout-minutes to a very large value 65% fail

    Masks the underlying issue (hanging process, inefficient build); wastes CI minutes and delays feedback; GitHub has a hard cap of 360 minutes

  2. Re-run the workflow without investigating the root cause 80% fail

    Timeouts from hangs or slow builds are deterministic and will recur on every run

Error Chain

Leads to:
Preceded by:
Frequently confused with: