GitHub Actions "Waiting for approval to run workflows for this PR"

A PR can sit indefinitely with no checks running while it waits for a maintainer to approve the workflow run. Until approved, no jobs are dispatched, so required checks never report.

What this error means

PR checks show no progress and the run is in a "waiting for approval" state.

github-actions

Waiting for approval to run workflows for this pull request.
A repository maintainer must approve before these workflows will run.

Common causes

Pending maintainer approval

The repo requires approval before workflows run on this PR and no one has approved yet.

How to fix it

Approve the queued run

A user with write access opens the PR and clicks Approve and run.
If required status checks are blocking merge, they will only appear after approval.

How to prevent it

Notify maintainers when external PRs are awaiting approval.
Set the approval policy to match your contributor trust level.

Related guides

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