GitHub Actions "The runner version is deprecated"

A self-hosted runner is too far behind the current agent release; GitHub flags it as deprecated and, past a threshold, refuses to dispatch jobs to it until it is upgraded.

What this error means

The runner annotation or log warns the runner version is deprecated and will stop receiving updates, and outdated runners may stop acquiring jobs entirely.

github-actions

This runner is using a deprecated version (2.300.0). Update to the latest version to continue receiving jobs.

Common causes

Auto-update disabled or failing

The runner was configured with --disableupdate or could not reach the update endpoint, so it never moved to a supported version.

Pinned runner image gone stale

A container or AMI baked an old runner binary that was never refreshed as new releases shipped.

How to fix it

Upgrade the runner binary

Stop the runner service.
Download the latest actions-runner release for the host OS/arch.
Replace the binary and re-run ./config.sh as needed.
Restart the service and confirm the new version registers.

Automate version refresh

Re-enable auto-update or rebuild the runner image on a schedule so the agent never drifts into the deprecated window. Managed runners track supported versions for you.

How to prevent it

Leave runner auto-update enabled unless you have a hard reason not to.
Rebuild pinned runner images regularly.
Alert when a runner version nears the deprecation threshold.