GitHub Actions build failed
The error
A red X appears next to your deployment in the repository's Actions tab, and GitHub sends you an email about a failed workflow run. The log of the failed step typically ends with:
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.
The useful message is the lines just above that one.
What it means
The deployment is a program GitHub runs for you: it takes your repository, builds your Drafter app into a static site, and publishes it. One of those steps failed, so your site was not updated. Your previous deployed version, if any, is still up.
Where to look
In the Actions tab, open the failed run (the one with the red X), then the failing job, and expand the failing step. Read the last several lines of the log; the real error is named there, and it is often a Python message you already know how to read. Only the newest run matters; older failed runs are records of past attempts and do not affect the current site.
Check
Compare the last lines of the log against these common causes:
- Pages or permissions complaints → GitHub Pages is not enabled as the source; enable it under Settings → Pages → Source → GitHub Actions.
- A Python traceback → your code has an error; if it does not run on your computer, it will not deploy.
- A missing file → see works locally, 404s deployed; a file the build needs was never uploaded.
- Nothing found to build → the workflow expects your program to
be in a file named
main.py, with exactly that name.
Fix
Fix the named cause locally, run the app on your own computer to prove it works, then commit the change and run the workflow again (the Actions tab has a Re-run option, and any new commit also triggers it).
Confirm
The newest run shows a green checkmark, and the live site reflects your change. Check it in a private browser window or from a second device so that you are not looking at a cached copy.
Prevent
Deploy only what already runs locally, and deploy small changes often. When a failure follows a small change, you can be confident about which change caused it.
Understand
Fix a failed deployment is the full walkthrough with screenshots, including the deployment dashboard; What deploying means explains the pipeline this error interrupts.