Runner scale set listener pods are frequently recreating with \"reason\":\"Error\"

[rajesh-dhakad]

Checks

• I've already read https://docs.github.com/en/actions/hosting-your-own-runners/managing-self-hosted-runners-with-actions-runner-controller/troubleshooting-actions-runner-controller-errors and I'm sure my issue is not covered in the troubleshooting guide.
• I am using charts that are officially provided

Controller Version

0.13.1

Deployment Method

Helm

Checks

• This isn't a question or user support case (For Q&A and community support, go to Discussions).
• I've read the Changelog before submitting this issue and I'm sure it's not due to any recently-introduced backward-incompatible changes

To Reproduce

We started noticing a couple of days ago that runner listener pods are being recreated too frequently. We upgraded the controller version from 0.13.0 to 0.13.1, but we are still seeing the same behavior, so we are unsure which version this issue started in.

I am not sure how we can reproduce it, but I am going to provide the controller and listener logs to check.

Describe the bug

Runner scale set listener pods are frequently recreating with "reason":"Error"

Describe the expected behavior

Listener pod should be in a stable state - frequenty restart cause delay in CI/CD jobs.

Additional Context

actions-runner-controller/cmd/ghalistener/listener/listener.go

Line 278 in d3ca9de

if !errors.As(err, &expiredError) {

--> this should only happen when the token expires, but we are not seeing any pattern like 30m, 60m.

In listener/controller pod logs - we are seeing below before it is being recreated. We have debug log level enabled for the controller, but don't see much information except below.

1768712941128	2026-01-18T05:09:01.128Z	{"container":"listener","pod":"general-metadata-755cf869-listener","_entry":"I0118 05:09:00.959725       1 warnings.go:110] \"Warning: unknown field \\\"status.jobId\\\"\""}
1768712944385	2026-01-18T05:09:04.385Z	{"container":"listener","pod":"general-metadata-755cf869-listener","_entry":"2026/01/18 05:09:04 Application returned an error: failed to get message: failed to get next message: actions error: StatusCode 200, AcivityId \"\": EOF"}
1768712945426	2026-01-18T05:09:05.426Z	{"container":"manager","level":"info","pod":"arc-controller-67c9bf8ccb-nb528","_entry":"{\"severity\":\"info\",\"ts\":\"2026-01-18T05:09:05Z\",\"logger\":\"AutoscalingListener\",\"message\":\"Listener pod is terminated\",\"version\":\"0.13.1\",\"autoscalinglistener\":{\"name\":\"general-metadata-755cf869-listener\",\"namespace\":\"arc-system\"},\"namespace\":\"arc-system\",\"name\":\"general-metadata-755cf869-listener\",\"reason\":\"Error\",\"message\":\"\"}"}
1768712945426	2026-01-18T05:09:05.426Z	{"container":"manager","level":"info","pod":"arc-controller-67c9bf8ccb-nb528","_entry":"{\"severity\":\"info\",\"ts\":\"2026-01-18T05:09:05Z\",\"logger\":\"AutoscalingListener\",\"message\":\"Deleting the listener pod\",\"version\":\"0.13.1\",\"autoscalinglistener\":{\"name\":\"general-metadata-755cf869-listener\",\"namespace\":\"arc-system\"},\"namespace\":\"arc-system\",\"name\":\"general-metadata-755cf869-listener\"}"}

Controller Logs

https://gist.github.com/rajesh-dhakad/2c8e2fc07746fab7a3deab71ab99e7bf

Runner Pod Logs

none ( not applicable )

[rajesh-dhakad]

@nikola-jokic : Seems like a bug to me, please let me know if you need more details.

[ChristianPraiss]

We are experiencing the same issues, listeners are endlessly recreated and stopped, but there is always one working listener. It seems there is something trying to replace it, but not working out. We are also on the v0.13.1. Downgrading to v0.13.0 did not help.

The listeners fail with this log: │ iled: failed to create session: failed to do the session request: actions error: StatusCode 409, AcivityId "": GitHub.Actions.Runtime.WebApi.RunnerScaleSetSessionConflictException, GitHub.Actions.Runtime.WebApi: The actions runner scaleset gha-runners-convidera-tiny already has an active session. │

[rajesh-dhakad]

@nikola-jokic : seems like wider issue.

[david-gang]

I saw that duplicate autoscalinglistener for a scalingset were created and i just deleted one of them. this solved the issue.

[rajesh-dhakad]

@david-gang: We have a single autoscalinglistener for each scaleset.

[avadhanij]

We attempted to update our clusters and saw the same issue. We had to rollback to 0.12.1

[rajesh-dhakad]

@nikola-jokic: Do you need more information on this?

[xmarcelet-saas]

we're experiencing the same issue with 0.13.1

[caius]

We discovered a fix was to recreate the listeners CRD and that stopped the error occurring. More information in my comment on a different issue #4346 (comment)

[ChristianPraiss]

Thx @caius for the hint, that worked for us as well!

[caius]

We've found that may not be a full solution for it, discovered today the listener pod for one of our runner groups was being recreated over and over again. There was an error message related to it not being able to find an autoscalingrunnerset for that runner type by name. We did have an autoscalingrunnerset there, but it was named differently.

We've downgraded to 0.13.0 and recreated the listeners as that was working for us previously. Couple of tickets in the .1 changelog related to listener pods which might be related.

[masn-id]

any updates?