GitHub Actions "Canceling since a higher priority waiting request exists"

By Daniel Zoghalchali·Latchkey

A concurrency group with cancel-in-progress canceled this run because a newer run entered the same group. This is the intended behavior of cancel-in-progress, but it surprises teams who expected both runs to finish.

What this error means

A run ends early reporting it was canceled because a higher-priority waiting request exists in its concurrency group.

Canceling since a higher priority waiting request for 'ci-refs/heads/main' exists
##[error]The operation was canceled.

Common causes

cancel-in-progress with a shared group

A newer push or event mapped to the same concurrency group and, with cancel-in-progress true, superseded the in-flight run.

Group key too broad

A group expression that does not include the ref or PR number lumps unrelated runs together, so they cancel each other.

How to fix it

Scope the group and choose cancel behavior

1. Make the concurrency group key unique per ref or PR so unrelated runs do not collide.
2. Set cancel-in-progress intentionally: true for fast feedback on the latest commit, false to let deploys finish.
3. Re-run.

concurrency:
  group: ci-${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

How to prevent it

• Include the ref or PR number in concurrency group keys.
• Set cancel-in-progress to false for deploy workflows that must complete.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• GitHub Actions documentation
• Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions