Sporadic silent failure when downloading Node.js

[itd-ndr]

Description:
The action terminates without failing and without downloading Node.js after printing Attempting to download <version>....
It reminds me of a similar issue in the download-artifact action: actions/download-artifact#454

Action version:
v6.4.0 48b55a0

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• Self-hosted

Tools version:

Node.js: 20.19.0 and 24.15.0
Pnpm: 10.24.0
gha-runner-scale-set: 0.13.0
Runner version: 2.334.0

Repro steps:
It fails sporadically in multiple repositories at different times. Retries are successful. Unfortunately, the failures happened in private repositories.
Here is part of one job that had this issue

  build-webfrontend:
    runs-on: "gha-standard-scale-set"
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@fc06bc1257f339d1d5d8b3a19a8cae5388b55320 # v5.0.0
        name: Install pnpm
        with:
          package_json_file: service/webfrontend/package.json
          run_install: false
      - uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
        with:
          cache: "pnpm"
          cache-dependency-path: "**/pnpm-lock.yaml"
          node-version-file: service/webfrontend/.nvmrc
      - run: make webfrontend-build

Expected behavior:
Either a successful Node.js installation or a failure with an error message.

Actual behavior:
It terminates successfully without an error and without installing Node.js.

Part of the Workflow Run Logs

2026-05-19T15:48:24.2321156Z ##[group]Run pnpm/action-setup@fc06bc1257f339d1d5d8b3a19a8cae5388b55320
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2321994Z with:
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2322559Z   package_json_file: service/webfrontend/package.json
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2323483Z   run_install: false
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2324009Z   dest: ~/setup-pnpm
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2324351Z   cache: false
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2324882Z   cache_dependency_path: pnpm-lock.yaml
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2325385Z   standalone: false
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2325724Z env:
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2326159Z   <REDACTED>
2026-05-19T15:48:24.2351981Z ##[endgroup]
2026-05-19T15:48:24.4414011Z ##[group]Running self-installer...
2026-05-19T15:48:24.8553870Z (node:261) [DEP0169] DeprecationWarning: `url.parse()` behavior is not standardized and prone to errors that have security implications. Use the WHATWG URL API instead. CVEs are not issued for `url.parse()` vulnerabilities.
2026-05-19T15:48:24.8557529Z (Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
2026-05-19T15:48:25.3810661Z Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 0, added 0
2026-05-19T15:48:25.4101002Z Packages: +1
2026-05-19T15:48:25.4101765Z +
2026-05-19T15:48:26.3841605Z Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 1, added 0
2026-05-19T15:48:27.5779167Z Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 1, added 1
2026-05-19T15:48:27.5780488Z Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 1, added 1, done
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6137418Z 
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6138177Z dependencies:
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6138940Z + pnpm 10.24.0 (11.1.3 is available)
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6139826Z 
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6190499Z Done in 2.9s
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6371189Z ##[endgroup]
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6372058Z Installation Completed!
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6681516Z ##[group]Run actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6682079Z with:
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6682260Z   cache: pnpm
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6682475Z   cache-dependency-path: **/pnpm-lock.yaml
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6682785Z   node-version-file: service/webfrontend/.nvmrc
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6683050Z   check-latest: false
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6683430Z   token: ***
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6683633Z   package-manager-cache: true
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6683863Z env:
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6684031Z   <REDACTED>
2026-05-19T15:48:27.6693943Z ##[endgroup]
2026-05-19T15:48:27.8540274Z Node version file is not JSON file
2026-05-19T15:48:27.8543748Z Resolved service/webfrontend/.nvmrc as 24.15.0
2026-05-19T15:48:27.8569257Z Attempting to download 24.15.0...
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4002714Z ##[group]Run make webfrontend-build
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4003491Z �[36;1mmake webfrontend-build�[0m
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4016351Z shell: /usr/bin/bash -e {0}
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4016969Z env:
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4017287Z   <REDACTED>
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4039645Z   PNPM_HOME: /home/runner/setup-pnpm/node_modules/.bin
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4039942Z ##[endgroup]
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4095248Z cd service/webfrontend && pnpm install
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4142834Z /home/runner/setup-pnpm/node_modules/.bin/pnpm: 16: exec: node: not found
2026-05-19T15:48:47.4146185Z make: *** [Makefile:35: webfrontend-install] Error 127

[v-chiranjib-swain]

Hi @itd-ndr ,
Thank you for creating this issue. We will investigate it and provide feedback as soon as we have some updates.

[amine-mf]

This is breaking a lot of our jobs. Using same version. Started 2/3 days ago. (We use nodejs 24, the action falls back to nodejs 20)

[v-priya-kinthali]

Hello @itd-ndr 👋,
Thank you for reporting this. We have tried to reproduce the behaviour on our side, but we haven’t been able to trigger the silent failure so far. Since the issue appears to be sporadic, we’d really appreciate your help with the following:

1. Please enable debugging by setting ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG to true (as described in the docs) and share the debug logs from the next time the failure occurs. These logs may provide additional insight into what’s happening.
2. If possible, could you please share a minimal public reproduction repository that consistently demonstrates the issue?

This information will help us better understand and investigate the problem. Thank you for your time and patience!

[fengmk2]

@priya-kinthali I got a debug log after setting the ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG env https://github.com/voidzero-dev/vite-plus/actions/runs/27140073112/job/80104620191?pr=1791

[itd-ndr]

Hello @priya-kinthali,
I have enabled debugging and will share the logs as soon as the next job fails because of this issue.

Unfortunately, I don't have a reproduction that consistently demonstrates the issue.

[v-jitenderpalsingh]

Hello @itd-ndr, thanks for reporting this! We've merged #1580, which adds a validation step to verify the expected Node.js version is installed after setup. This ensures the action will now fail with a clear error instead of silently exiting, so subsequent steps won't run against a missing Node.js installation.

We'll be closing this issue. Please feel free to reopen if you encounter any further related concerns.