# Runs A run is one time a workflow ran, from its trigger to its last step. Each time its [trigger](https://docs.gorunner.io/glossary#trigger) fires, a workflow runs. GoRunner keeps what each step received and did. ![Runs shows each run with its state: one Cancelled, one Queued, one Running, one Worked, and one Failed with the reason it failed.](https://docs.gorunner.io/assets/img/build/runs-list-light.jpg) ## Test runs and production runs Press **Test** in the editor to run your draft once: that is a test run. Once the workflow is **Live**, its trigger starts production runs of the published version. Both do real work: a test of an email step sends the email. **Runs** leaves test runs out unless you turn on **Include test runs** under **Filter**. ## States Every run is in one of six states: - **Queued**: Waiting in line for a free place to start. (`waiting`) - **Running**: A step is working now, or the run is in a Delay. (`pending, running`) - **Held**: Waiting for a person, such as an approval. (`paused (waitingOn: person)`) - **Worked**: The run finished without failing. (`completed`) - **Failed**: A step failed, and its error says why. (`failed`) - **Cancelled**: Someone stopped it. (`cancelled`) A rejected approval is still **Worked**: the run went on with your answer. ## The Runs list Open **Runs**. It lists the workspace’s runs, newest first. Each row names the workflow, how the run started and its state. A failed row says where and why, such as **Failed at Check the order: This order has no total**. At the top, **Needs you** holds runs held for a person, with **Approve** and **Reject**, and failed runs grouped by cause. When runs wait in line, a band above the list says how many are running and queued, with **Show the line**. **Why is my run Queued?** The workflow or your account is at its limit of runs at once. The row says which, such as **1st in line · this workflow runs 1 at once**. The run starts by itself when another ends. [Limit runs at once](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/runs-at-once) ## Find a run Search by run id, workflow or reason. **Filter** and **Sort** narrow the list: - **Status**: One state, such as only **Failed**. Beside the status chips, it is **How it ended**: **Worked** or **Cancelled**. - **How it started**: **Webhook**, **Schedule**, **By hand**, **API call**, **New item in an app**, **When a run finishes**, **When a workflow fails**, **MCP** or **Sub-flow**. - **Workflow…**: One workflow. - **Time range**: 24 hours to 90 days, or **All time**. - **Failure reason has…**: Words from the error, such as `timeout`. - **Include test runs**: Adds the editor’s test runs. - **Sort**: **Newest first**, **Oldest first** or **Longest first**. New runs arrive as **2 new runs · Show**. A row’s menu also has **Open the workflow** and **Copy run id**. ## A run’s page Select a row to open the run. Its page shows the workflow as it ran, with each step’s state. Steps the run didn’t reach are faded. ![A failed run: New order worked, Check the order failed with This order has no total, and Post to the ledger did not run.](https://docs.gorunner.io/assets/img/build/run-page-light.jpg) A failed or held run opens with that step selected and its panel open, as in [Read the failed step](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/why-a-run-failed#read-the-failed-step). Close the panel to see the whole run, as above. The top bar says how many steps ran, such as **1 of 2 steps ran**, and how long the run took. Hover over the time to see where it went. Select a step to see what it did. A line under its name says what happened, then the tabs **Output**, **Input** and **Settings**. A failed step shows **Error** first. A Branch says which way it went and why. A Loop lets you pick an iteration. The canvas is the version that ran, not your draft. **Trail** lists the steps that ran, in order, and where the run stopped. It starts closed; once you open or close it, your browser remembers. While a run is going, the canvas follows the step that is running. Move the canvas and it stops; press **Follow run** or `F` to follow again. ![The same failed run with the Trail open: 1 of 2 steps ran, failed at Check the order. Steps that ran lists New order, then Check the order with This order has no total, and says the run stopped there and 1 step did not run.](https://docs.gorunner.io/assets/img/build/run-trail-light.jpg) ## Run again or cancel On a run’s page, **Run again** starts a finished run over, and **Cancel** stops one that is Running, Queued or Held. A production run runs again on the published version. A test run runs again as a test, on the version that ran, or on your current draft if it tested the draft. From v2026.10.31, Runs does the same; before, it ran a test again on your current draft. See [Run again, cancel or delete runs](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/rerun-and-cancel). ## How long runs are kept A run is deleted, with its data, 90 days after it finished. Age counts from the finish, so a run that waited for weeks keeps its full time. A held, queued or running run is never deleted. Each workflow keeps its newest finished run in each environment, production and test, however old: the newest that worked or failed, not one that was cancelled. So a workflow that rarely runs keeps its run page and stays **Failing** if that run failed. **Self-hosted:** `RUN_RETENTION_DAYS` sets the number of days. See [Settings (.env)](https://docs.gorunner.io/self-host/settings#RUN_RETENTION_DAYS). ## For developers `GET /api/runs` gives each run a `state` in these words. A single run has only its `status`, mapped in [Run states and limits](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/run-states#states). `POST /api/runs/{id}/rerun` runs it again. See [List runs](https://docs.gorunner.io/api/runs/list-runs). ## Related - [Find out why a run failed](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/why-a-run-failed): The failed step, and what it received · 3 min - [Handle errors](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/handle-errors): Stop, carry on, or run steps of your own · 4 min - [Run states and limits](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/run-states): Every state and limit, with its API word Source: https://docs.gorunner.io/build/runs