I have an open-source MCP server . I tag a release, push, GitHub Actions builds, npm publishes, MCP Registry updates. That's the contract. It worked for v2.7.6 through v2.8.4. Then v2.8.5 didn't publish. Neither did v2.8.6. Or v2.9.0. Or v2.9.1. Or v2.9.2. Or v2.9.3. Six releases stuck. Not failing — stuck . Yellow dot. Forever. Here's what was actually happening. And how I got the releases out without GitHub Actions. The symptom that doesn't match any docs Every release event triggered the workflow. Every workflow showed up in the runs list. None of them ever started a job. $ gh run view 25001890100 --json status,conclusion,jobs { "status" : "queued" , "conclusion" : null, "jobs" : [] } Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode No conclusion. No jobs. Empty pending_deployments . Not "waiting for approval". Not "in_progress". Not "failure". Just pending with no work scheduled — for 125 hours. If you search "GitHub Actions stuck pending", you'll find a hundred forum posts.…