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@nikola-jokic nikola-jokic commented Sep 5, 2025

If the runner exits with the exit code != 0, it might have been killed by something external.

Therefore, we should delete this ephemeral runner without having to retry it since its configuration is no longer valid, and the job failed.

Regarding #4091, 0.12.1 release should fix the issue where the race condition is not checked when the runner exits with exit code 0. However, if there is pressure on the node that kills the runner, we would still retry the runner even though the credentials are no longer valid. This PR aims to fix it completely by removing the ephemeral runner IF we are certain that the job was assigned to it.

Let's explain the worst case scenario:

  1. The ephemeral runner is created and started the pod.
  2. The pod starts and is killed right away
  3. At this point, the listener did not have time to patch the ephemeral runner just yet.
  4. The ephemeral runner controller would re-create the job pod with the back-off.
  5. The listener during this time should already be notified about the job assignment, and should patch the ephemeral runner.
  6. The pod exits again, since the configuration is no longer valid
  7. However, this time, ephemeral runner controller notices that the job was assigned to that ephemeral runner, and removes the ephemeral runner, cleaning up the slot for scaling.

Fixes #4091

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings September 5, 2025 14:10
@nikola-jokic nikola-jokic added the gha-runner-scale-set Related to the gha-runner-scale-set mode label Sep 5, 2025
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Pull Request Overview

This PR changes the behavior of ephemeral runners to immediately delete them when they exit with a non-zero exit code and have a job assigned, rather than retrying. This addresses scenarios where the runner may have been killed externally, making its configuration invalid.

  • Replaces job assignment check with a HasJob() method for better code clarity
  • Modifies failed runner behavior to delete ephemeral runners with jobs instead of retrying
  • Updates successful completion behavior to delete runners immediately instead of marking as finished

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File Description
ephemeralrunnerset_controller.go Replace direct JobRequestId check with HasJob() method call
ephemeralrunner_controller.go Add logic to delete ephemeral runners on failure when job assigned, remove markAsFinished method
ephemeralrunner_controller_test.go Add test for deletion behavior on failure with job, update existing tests
ephemeralrunner_types.go Add HasJob() helper method to check if runner has assigned job

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err := k8sClient.Status().Update(ctx, er)
Expect(err).To(BeNil(), "failed to update ephemeral runner status")

er = new(v1alpha1.EphemeralRunner)
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[nitpick] Variable er is being reassigned with a new instance unnecessarily. The existing instance can be reused since you're fetching fresh data from the API server in the Eventually block.

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err = k8sClient.Status().Update(ctx, pod)
Expect(err).To(BeNil(), "Failed to update pod status")

er = new(v1alpha1.EphemeralRunner)
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[nitpick] Variable er is being reassigned with a new instance unnecessarily. The existing instance can be reused since you're fetching fresh data from the API server in the Eventually block.

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@nikola-jokic nikola-jokic merged commit 088e2a3 into master Sep 17, 2025
28 of 30 checks passed
@nikola-jokic nikola-jokic deleted the nikola-jokic/no-retry-when-job-started branch September 17, 2025 19:40
Okabe-Junya added a commit to mercari/actions-runner-controller that referenced this pull request Jan 5, 2026
* Updates: runner to v2.318.0 container-hooks to v0.6.1 (actions#3684)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Updates: runner to v2.319.0 (actions#3702)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Updates: runner to v2.319.1 (actions#3708)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Bassem Dghaidi <[email protected]>

* Add exponential backoff when generating runner reg tokens (actions#3724)

* Updates: runner to v2.320.0 (actions#3763)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Updates: runner to v2.321.0 container-hooks to v0.6.2 (actions#3809)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Fix ARC e2e tests (actions#3836)

* Make EphemeralRunnerController MaxConcurrentReconciles configurable (actions#3832)

Co-authored-by: Bassem Dghaidi <[email protected]>

* Make EphemeralRunnerReconciler create runner pods earlier (actions#3831)

Co-authored-by: Bassem Dghaidi <[email protected]>

* Bump github.com/bradleyfalzon/ghinstallation/v2 from 2.8.0 to 2.12.0 (actions#3837)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
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* Update docs with details for the dashboard visualizations (actions#3696)

Co-authored-by: Bassem Dghaidi <[email protected]>

* Make k8s client rate limiter parameters configurable (actions#3848)

Co-authored-by: Taketoshi Fujiwara <[email protected]>

* Bump golang.org/x/crypto from 0.22.0 to 0.31.0 (actions#3844)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
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* Prepare `0.10.0` release (actions#3849)

* Fix helm chart bug related to `runnerMaxConcurrentReconciles` (actions#3858)

* Prepare `0.10.1` release (actions#3859)

* Update dependabot config to group packages (& include actions eco) (actions#3880)

* Fix template tests and add go test on gha-validate-chart (actions#3886)

* cmd/ghalistener/config: export Validate (actions#3870)

Co-authored-by: Han-Wen Nienhuys <[email protected]>

* Updated dead link (actions#3830)

Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* docs: end markdown code block correctly (actions#3736)

* Clarify syntax for `githubConfigSecret` (actions#3812)

Co-authored-by: Bassem Dghaidi <[email protected]>

* Bump golang.org/x/net from 0.25.0 to 0.33.0 (actions#3881)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
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* Updates: runner to v2.322.0 (actions#3893)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Sanitize labels ending in hyphen, underscore, and dot (actions#3664)

* metrics cardinality for ghalistener (actions#3671)

Co-authored-by: Bassem Dghaidi <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* Rename log from target/actual to build/autoscalingRunnerSet version (actions#3957)

* Use Ready from the pod conditions when setting it to the EphemeralRunner (actions#3891)

* AutoscalingRunnerSet env: not Rendering correctly (actions#3826)

Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* Drop verbose flag from runner scale set init-dind-externals copy (actions#3805)

* Include custom annotations and labels to all resources created by `gha-runner-scale-set` chart (actions#3934)

* Remove old githubrunnerscalesetlistener, remove warning and fix config bug (actions#3937)

* Wrap errors in controller helper methods and swap logic in cleanups (actions#3960)

* Clean up as much as possible in a single pass for the EphemeralRunner reconciler (actions#3941)

* Use gha-runner-scale-set-controller.chart instead of .Chart.Version (actions#3729)

Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* Trim volume and container helpers in gha-runner-scale-set (actions#3807)

Co-authored-by: Bassem Dghaidi <[email protected]>

* Small readme updates for readability  (actions#3860)

* Update all dependencies, conforming to the new controller-runtime API (actions#3949)

* feat: allow namespace overrides (actions#3797)

Signed-off-by: Jesús Fernández <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* chore: Added `OwnerReferences` during resource creation for `EphemeralRunnerSet`, `EphemeralRunner`, and `EphemeralRunnerPod` (actions#3575)

* Updates: runner to v2.323.0 (actions#3976)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Bump github.com/golang-jwt/jwt/v4 from 4.5.1 to 4.5.2 (actions#3984)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Add events role permission to leader_election_role (actions#3988)

* Create configurable metrics (actions#3975)

* Prepare 0.11.0 release (actions#3992)

* Fix busy runners metric (actions#4016)

* Bump the gomod group across 1 directory with 7 updates (actions#4008)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
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* Include more context to errors raised by github/actions client (actions#4032)

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

* Pin third party actions (actions#3981)

* upgrade(golangci-lint): v2.1.2  (actions#4023)

Signed-off-by: karamaru-alpha <[email protected]>

* Revised dashboard (actions#4022)

* feat(helm): move dind to sidecar (actions#3842)

* Fix code block fences (actions#3140)

Co-authored-by: Mosè Giordano <[email protected]>

* Add missing backtick to metrics.serviceMonitor.namespace line to correct formatting (actions#3790)

* Bump go version (actions#4075)

* Create backoff mechanism for failed runners and allow re-creation of failed ephemeral runners (actions#4059)

* Updates: runner to v2.324.0 container-hooks to v0.7.0 (actions#4086)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Fix docker lint warnings (actions#4074)

* Relax version requirements to allow patch version mismatch (actions#4080)

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

* Refactor resource naming removing unnecessary calculations (actions#4076)

* Allow use of client id as an app id (actions#4057)

* Updates: runner to v2.325.0 (actions#4109)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Add job_workflow_ref label to listener metrics (actions#4054)

Signed-off-by: rskmm0chang <[email protected]>

* Bump github.com/cloudflare/circl from 1.6.0 to 1.6.1 (actions#4118)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Add startup probe to dind side-car (actions#4117)

* Avoid nil point when config.Metrics is nil and expose all metrics if none are configured (actions#4101)

Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* Add response body to error when fetching access token (actions#4005)

Co-authored-by: mluffman <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* Delete config secret when listener pod gets deleted (actions#4033)

Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* Azure Key Vault integration to resolve secrets (actions#4090)

* Bump github.com/golang-jwt/jwt/v5 from 5.2.1 to 5.2.2 (actions#4120)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Prepare 0.12.0 release (actions#4122)

* Bump build-push-action to 6.18.0 (actions#4123)

* Remove cache for build-push-action (actions#4124)

* Fix indentation of startupProbe attributes in dind sidecar (actions#4126)

* Fix dind sidecar template (actions#4128)

* Remove duplicate float64 call (actions#4139)

* Remove check if runner exists after exit code 0 (actions#4142)

* Explicitly requeue during backoff ephemeral runner (actions#4152)

* Prepare 0.12.1 release (actions#4153)

* Update CodeQL workflow for v3 (global-run-codeql.yaml) (actions#4157)

* Bump the actions group across 1 directory with 5 updates (actions#4160)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* feat(runner): add ubuntu 24.04 support (actions#3598)

* Fix image pull secrets list arguments in the chart (actions#4164)

* Remove workflow actions version comments since upgrades are done via dependabot (actions#4161)

* Updates: runner to v2.326.0 (actions#4176)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Update example GitHub URLs in values.yaml to include an example for enterprise account-level runners (actions#4181)

* Add Missing Languages to CodeQL Advanced Configuration (actions#4179)

* Updates: runner to v2.327.0 (actions#4185)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Remove deprecated preserveUnknownFields from CRDs (actions#4135)

* Updates: runner to v2.327.1 (actions#4188)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Remove JIT config from ephemeral runner status field (actions#4191)

* Fix usage of underscore in Runner Scale Set name (actions#3545)

Co-authored-by: Nikola Jokic <[email protected]>

* Bump docker/login-action from 3.4.0 to 3.5.0 in the actions group (actions#4196)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Bump actions/checkout from 4 to 5 in the actions group (actions#4205)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Updates: runner to v2.328.0 (actions#4209)

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Requeue if create pod returns already exists error (actions#4201)

* docs: fix repo path typo (actions#4229)

* Update CODEOWNERS (actions#4251)

* Update CODEOWNERS to include new maintainer (actions#4253)

* Remove ephemeral runner when exit code != 0 and is patched with the job (actions#4239)

* Add workflow name and target labels (actions#4240)

* Bump the actions group across 1 directory with 5 updates (actions#4262)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Introduce new kubernetes-novolume mode (actions#4250)

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

* Ensure ephemeral runner is deleted from the service on exit != 0 (actions#4260)

* docs: fix broken Grafana dashboard JSON path (actions#4270)

* Potential fix for code scanning alert no. 3: Workflow does not contain permissions (actions#4273)

Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <62310815+github-advanced-security[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Potential fix for code scanning alert no. 1: Workflow does not contain permissions (actions#4274)

Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <62310815+github-advanced-security[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: jiaren-wu <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

* Bump all dependencies (actions#4266)

* Bump the gomod group across 1 directory with 4 updates (actions#4277)

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* Prepare 0.13.0 release (actions#4280)

* Revert "gha: customize client-go rate limiter params (#4)"

This reverts commit 8728190.
Keep several instrumentations

* Revert "gha: make MaxConcurrentReconciles for each reconciler configurable (#1)"

This reverts commit 057a1e7.

* chore(chart): bump version to 0.13.0-rc.1 for testing

---------

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EphemeralRunner stuck in failed state if the job it was allocated to is cancelled

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