"Waiting for a runner to pick up this job"

This message means no online runner can take the job right now. Most often the runs-on labels don't match; other causes are repo access, busy runners or an offline machine.

The short answer

When GitHub Actions is waiting for a runner, it is looking for one that is online, free, allowed to see the repo, and has every label in runs-on. If no runner fits all four, the job waits. Check them in the order below.

Labels do not match

GitHub gives a job only to a runner that has every label in runs-on. One typo, and the job waits forever:

# waits: no runner has the label "codemay"
runs-on: [self-hosted, codemay]

# runs
runs-on: [self-hosted, codemany]

Compare your labels with Settings › Actions › Runners. Each extra label narrows which runners can take the job. Codemany's labels are listed in Runner labels.

Labels of GitHub-hosted runners, such as ubuntu-latest, never match a self-hosted runner. Don't mix them in one runs-on.

The runner cannot see the repo

A runner added to one repo only serves that repo. Organization runners live in runner groups, and a group can be limited to some repos. Public repos are kept out of groups unless you allow them. Check Organization settings › Actions › Runner groups. Also check that the runner was added in the right place: the repo, or the organization that owns it.

All runners are busy

Each runner runs one job at a time. A matrix build can start many jobs at once, and a GitHub self-hosted runner queue grows fast. In Settings › Actions › Runners, each runner shows Idle, Active or Offline. If all are Active, add runners, or limit the matrix:

strategy:
  max-parallel: 2
  matrix:
    node: [20, 22, 24]

On Codemany, each machine runs as many jobs as it has room for. See how many jobs per machine.

The machine is offline

If the runner shows Offline, no job can reach it. Work through the offline runner checks. A Mac that sleeps goes offline too. Codemany keeps the Mac awake while jobs run.

How Codemany matches jobs

Every Codemany runner carries self-hosted and codemany. GitHub's runner adds the system and CPU labels, such as macOS, Linux, ARM64 or X64. Codemany adds tool labels when the tool is there: xcode, a version like xcode-26.0, and docker.

runs-on: [self-hosted, Linux, codemany]

Each repo keeps a warm runner while there are spares. Idle runners move to repos with waiting jobs. Codemany sizes each machine: about 4 GB of memory, 2 cores and 15 GB of disk per job. Codemany Console shows every machine, and you can change how many jobs one runs at once. Public repos stay off until you turn them on, so a public repo's job waits until then.

A job that asks for a tool label waits for a machine with that tool. The docker label, for example, is there only while Docker runs. Start the tool, or drop the label.

Questions

Why is my job queued forever?

Usually its runs-on labels match no online runner.

Which labels does Codemany use?

self-hosted and codemany, plus tool labels it adds such as docker.

How many jobs can one machine run?

Codemany sizes it to the machine: an 8 GB Mac runs 1 job at a time, a 16 GB Mac runs 3. You can change it in Codemany Console.

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