Draft pull request run cancels your GitHub Actions run

When you push a commit and mark a draft pull request ready for review at almost the same moment, GitHub can cancel the run that tests your code and keep a run where every job is skipped. Your pull request then has no test results for its latest commit. A one-line change to your workflow keeps the real run going. This happens on GitHub-hosted runners too. It comes from how your workflow chooses which runs to cancel, so the fix goes in your workflow file.

What you see

In your repository’s Actions tab, two runs for the same commit started at the same time. One shows Cancelled, and every job in the other shows Skipped.
On the commit, the Celesto runner setup check shows Queued job ended with the message “GitHub ended this job before runner setup completed.”
The pull request shows no passing or failing tests for its latest commit.

Why it happens

Your workflow runs on pushes to the pull request and when the pull request becomes ready for review. Each of those events starts its own run, and each run gets a copy of the pull request as it was when the event happened.

The run started by the push still sees a draft, so it skips every job.
The run started by Ready for review sees a ready pull request, so it runs your tests.
Both runs share one . Whichever run arrives second cancels the first. When the draft copy arrives second, it cancels the run that tests your code.

The same thing happens when you push and select Convert to draft at the same time.

Fix it

Add the pull request’s draft state to the end of the concurrency group name. Draft runs and ready runs then land in separate groups and never cancel each other. This complete workflow runs Node.js tests on Celesto, skips drafts, and keeps the real run. Save it as .github/workflows/tests.yml:

.github/workflows/tests.yml

name: Tests
on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, ready_for_review]
concurrency:
  # Draft and ready runs get separate groups, so a draft run never cancels a ready one.
  group: tests-${{ github.ref }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.draft }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
jobs:
  test:
    if: ${{ !github.event.pull_request.draft }}
    runs-on: [self-hosted, celesto-micro]
    timeout-minutes: 90
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: "22"
          cache: npm
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

If your workflow already has a concurrency block, keep it and add -${{ github.event.pull_request.draft }} to the end of its group value:

.github/workflows/tests.yml

 concurrency:
-  group: tests-${{ github.ref }}
+  group: tests-${{ github.ref }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.draft }}
   cancel-in-progress: true

Everything else keeps working as before:

A newer push to a ready pull request still cancels the older run for that pull request.
Pushes to a branch with no pull request, such as main, behave as they do today.
When you convert a pull request back to draft, a run already in progress finishes and reports its results.

Check the fix

Push a commit to a draft pull request, then select Ready for review right away.
Open the Actions tab. You see two runs for the commit: one finishes in a few seconds with every job Skipped, and the other runs your tests to completion.
On the commit, the Celesto runner setup check reaches Runner ready, and the native GitHub Actions job shows your test results.

Get results for a commit that was already cancelled

Open the cancelled run in the Actions tab and select Re-run all jobs. You can also push a new commit to start a fresh run.

What “Queued job ended” means

GitHub cancelled the job before a runner picked it up. Your steps never ran, so the check reflects the cancellation itself, and Celesto stops setting up a runner for that job. Rerun the workflow to get results. For other blocked or queued jobs, see Troubleshooting.

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FAQs

Draft pull request run cancels your GitHub Actions run

What you see

Why it happens

Fix it

Check the fix

Get results for a commit that was already cancelled

What “Queued job ended” means

​What you see

​Why it happens

​Fix it

​Check the fix

​Get results for a commit that was already cancelled

​What “Queued job ended” means

What you see

Why it happens

Fix it

Check the fix

Get results for a commit that was already cancelled

What “Queued job ended” means