Why a Scheduled Action run says skipped: previous_run_active

When a Scheduled Action run shows skipped with skip_reason: previous_run_active, the previous run of that action had not finished when the new trigger fired, so Sume recorded the new one instead of starting a second. The receipt also carries next_action: retry_later. Nothing failed; the earlier run is the one doing the work.

What the receipt tells you

Skipping is the default for Scheduled Actions. It is the same idea as on_active_run: skip on a Format run, but for actions it is already set, so a cron that fires every five minutes does not stack up copies of a 20-minute job.

What to do about it

First decide whether skipping is correct. If every run covers a different input, such as a new episode each week, a skip means a window was lost and you should either lengthen the gap between triggers or shorten the work. If the runs are idempotent (check a feed, do nothing if empty), a skip is harmless.

For API-triggered runs, treat retry_later as an instruction: wait, then call POST /v1/actions/{action_id}/runs again, rather than looping at once. Read the earlier run with GET /v1/action-runs/{run_id}/status to see whether it is stuck or just slow, and cancel it only if it is stuck.

• Shorten the work: split a big task into two actions on different schedules.
• Lengthen the cron interval beyond the usual run time.
• Count skips in your own monitoring; a streak means the interval is too short.

Monitoring skips

Treat the skip rate as a health metric. A single skip after a slow week is normal; a skip on every trigger means the interval is shorter than the work. Record trigger.source too: a manual or API trigger that lands during a cron run will itself be skipped, which can look like a failed deploy of your own automation when it is simply a collision.

Limits

A skipped run has no output to read. If you need every trigger to produce a result, use Agent Completions or Format runs with on_active_run: allow instead; both can run at the same time, subject to the workspace's generation concurrency. See Prevent overlapping AI agent runs for the options side by side.