fix: stop workflows retrying forever when no retries are configured by AlessioGr · Pull Request #16450 · payloadcms/payload

AlessioGr · 2026-05-01T07:00:44Z

Jobs with a workflow that had no retries configured would retry forever with no backoff if the workflow handler threw an error. We hit this when a task slug was removed from config in a deploy after the job was queued - the inline single-task workflow would throw a TypeError calling the missing task.

Why the bug existed: when a task throws, handleTaskError runs first and uses the task's own retries value to cap retries, so a workflow with no retries is fine - the task's retry limit is what stops the loop. But when the workflow handler itself throws, the error skips handleTaskError and goes straight to handleWorkflowError. The existing default there for "no workflow retries set" was "retry indefinitely, the task's limit will stop it" - except no task was ever involved, so nothing stopped the loop.

handleWorkflowError now permanently fails the job when the workflow has no retries set. The task case is unchanged on purpose: a workflow without retries that calls a task with retries: 3 still retries the task up to 3 times like before.

There's also a smaller fix for jobs whose workflowSlug is no longer in config - those previously returned early without calling updateJob, leaving them stuck in processing: true indefinitely.

To see the specific tasks where the Asana app for GitHub is being used, see below:
- https://app.asana.com/0/0/1214434612753285

AlessioGr · 2026-05-01T07:06:26Z

-              })
-            },
-          }
+    let workflowConfig: undefined | WorkflowConfig = undefined


Previously the missing-slug check only triggered when a workflowSlug didn't match, and even then it returned error without updating the job - leaving it stuck in processing: true forever.

We now also check for missing taskSlugs and properly fail the job with hasError: true.

The fixed workflow-retry behavior would already catch the missing-task case (the inline workflow throws a TypeError and runs through handleWorkflowError), but checking up front lets us log a clear "Task 'foo' is not registered" error instead of an opaque TypeError, as well as match the behavior of when a workflow slug is not found.

github-actions · 2026-05-01T07:11:14Z

📦 esbuild Bundle Analysis for payload

This analysis was generated by esbuild-bundle-analyzer. 🤖

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Details

Next to the size is how much the size has increased or decreased compared with the base branch of this PR.

‼️: Size increased by 20% or more. Special attention should be given to this.
⚠️: Size increased in acceptable range (lower than 20%).
✅: No change or even downsized.
🗑️: The out file is deleted: not found in base branch.
🆕: The out file is newly found: will be added to base branch.

DanRibbens

Just one nit-pick, going to approve so consider the feedback as optional

DanRibbens · 2026-05-01T15:38:43Z

+  const { hasFinalError, maxWorkflowRetries, waitUntil } = hasNoRetriesConfigured
+    ? { hasFinalError: true, maxWorkflowRetries: undefined, waitUntil: undefined }
+    : getWorkflowRetryBehavior({


Would be cleaner to read if you change this by passing workflowConfig to getWorkflowRetryBehavior eliminate the ternary and hasNoRetriesConfigured from this file.

…16465) Backport of #16450

AlessioGr added 4 commits April 30, 2026 23:38

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github-actions Bot added the created-by: Payload team label May 1, 2026

AlessioGr enabled auto-merge (squash) May 1, 2026 07:00

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DanRibbens approved these changes May 1, 2026

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AlessioGr merged commit da5dd8a into main May 1, 2026
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AlessioGr deleted the fix/jobs-queue-task-definition-removed branch May 1, 2026 17:48

AlessioGr mentioned this pull request May 4, 2026

fix: stop workflows retrying forever when no retries are configured #16465

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fix: stop workflows retrying forever when no retries are configured (#…

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…16465) Backport of #16450

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Meta file: packages/next/meta_index.json, Out file: esbuild/index.js

Meta file: packages/payload/meta_index.json, Out file: esbuild/index.js

Meta file: packages/payload/meta_shared.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/shared.js

Meta file: packages/richtext-lexical/meta_client.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js

Meta file: packages/ui/meta_client.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js

Meta file: packages/ui/meta_shared.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/shared_optimized/index.js

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📦 esbuild Bundle Analysis for payload

Meta file: packages/next/meta_index.json, Out file: esbuild/index.js

Meta file: packages/payload/meta_index.json, Out file: esbuild/index.js

Meta file: packages/payload/meta_shared.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/shared.js

Meta file: packages/richtext-lexical/meta_client.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js

Meta file: packages/ui/meta_client.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js

Meta file: packages/ui/meta_shared.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/shared_optimized/index.js

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AlessioGr commented May 1, 2026 •

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