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This is a known issue where GitHub Actions' workflow dispatcher retains a stale/corrupted pointer to an invalid workflow path (BuildFailed) in its internal workflow registry table. During any push event, the dispatcher attempts to evaluate all registered workflows for the repository, and the phantom path fails parsing immediately with startup_failure (0s).

Here are the proven methods to force-clear this orphan workflow:

Method 1: Re-create the Phantom Path to Reset the Parser (Most Reliable)

The GitHub Actions parser is failing because the registered path BuildFailed does not exist on disk in the default branch. You can feed the parser a valid definition so it clears the corruption:

1. In the root of your default branch (main), create a file named exactly BuildFailed (or .github/workflows/BuildFailed depending on where the API reports the path):

   name: Orphan Cleaner
   on:
     workflow_dispatch:
   jobs:
     noop:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
         - run: echo "cleared"

2. Commit and push this directly to main.
3. This triggers a fresh schema evaluation. The Actions registry will see a valid workflow definition, update the record status, and stop throwing startup_failure.
4. Go to Actions → select Orphan Cleaner → click ... → Disable workflow.
5. Once disabled, you can safely git rm BuildFailed and commit. The deleted state will now be cleanly registered without blocking other workflows.

Method 2: Force-Disable via the REST API

Call GitHub's workflow state endpoint to explicitly toggle the workflow into a disabled state so the event listener skips it:

gh api -X PUT /repos/mhaawi/Feasibility-Study/actions/workflows/356051154/disable

Verify the state transitions to disabled_manually:

gh api /repos/mhaawi/Feasibility-Study/actions/workflows/356051154 --jq .state

Method 3: Invalidate Default Branch Check Suite

If the registry remains locked, creating a new temporary branch, setting it as default in Repository Settings, and deleting/recreating main will force GitHub's backend to rebuild the repository's check_suite event listeners from scratch.