Environment protection "Required reviewers" blocks a deploy in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

A job that targets a protected environment with Required reviewers pauses until a designated reviewer approves the deployment. The job is not failing; it is intentionally held by the environment protection rule.

What this error means

The job shows "Waiting for review" / "Deployment protection rules" and does not proceed. Logs note the run is waiting for approval from required reviewers.

Waiting for approval from required reviewers ...
# job remains queued under the environment's protection rules

Common causes

The environment requires manual approval

The environment lists Required reviewers, so any job targeting it waits until an approver clicks Approve.

No eligible reviewer is available

If the only reviewers are unavailable or cannot approve their own run, the job stays blocked.

How to fix it

Approve the deployment

1. Open the run and find the environment awaiting review.
2. Have a listed reviewer approve (or reject) the deployment.
3. The job continues once approval is recorded.

# Run page > Review deployments > select environment > Approve

Adjust reviewers or rules if approvals stall

Add additional eligible reviewers, or relax the rule for non-production environments where manual approval is not needed.

# Settings > Environments > production > Required reviewers

How to prevent it

• Keep an adequate set of available required reviewers.
• Reserve Required reviewers for environments that need a gate.
• Note that a held job is waiting, not failing.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• GitHub Actions documentation
• Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions