Cron-triggered workflows don't update commit check statuses

[monperrus]

Why are you starting this discussion?

Bug

What GitHub Actions topic or product is this about?

Schedule & Cron Jobs

Discussion Details

When a workflow runs via cron trigger, it does not update the check statuses on commits for which checks were pushed before via a branch tirgger. This leaves commits with outdated status checks.

Current behavior:

• Developer pushes commit at 10:00 AM
• Branch triggered job sets commits to SUCCESS
• Cron workflow runs at 12:00 PM (scheduled trigger) and FAILS
• Commit status checks remain unchanged
• Commit appears to have passing checks while the cron job has actually failed

Expected behavior:
Cron-triggered workflows should update the check status of the latest commit on the branch they run against. This would ensure commits reflect the true state of all required checks.

Impact:
Developers get a false sense of correctness. They see green checks on their commits even when scheduled workflows are failing. This can lead to:

• Merging broken code
• Missing test failures
• Reduced confidence in CI/CD pipeline

Steps to reproduce:

1. Push a commit to a branch
2. Observe initial check statuses
3. Wait for cron-triggered workflow to run with opposite outcome
4. Check commit status page
5. Notice the cron workflow result is not reflected

** Examples:

• BEFORE Job when merged on master, outcome is passing https://github.com/ASSERT-KTH/sorald/actions/runs/21610384328
• AFTER Latest run by cron, outcome is broken: https://github.com/ASSERT-KTH/sorald/actions/runs/21735930540/attempts/1
• Commit status stays all green: ASSERT-KTH/sorald@80129f8

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