Job times out after 5 hours

Hi,
I have seen this subject being discussed few times but could not see any resolution.
I received the following error: “Build timed out after 5h0m0s” in one of my jobs (Docker executor). Having seen this exact message in other tickets (How to increase job's runtime, Maximum build time for builds), I believe this is a hard limit set by CircleCI.
I have two questions then:

  • Is this limit documented anywhere?
  • Is it possible to increase this limit as I have an overnight long running job and it is normal for it to take longer than 5 hours?
    I also use the no_output_timeout option but this does not seem to be responsible for the timeout.

Many thanks,
Adrien

2 Likes

Having the same issue using the macOS executor as well suddenly with no changes to build command

had created a support ticket but no response yet

Yeah have been facing the identical issue since last week. I hope an accurate solution is being delivered soon.

Hello @acabarbaye,

All jobs on CircleCI have a max life of 5 hours, this is currently true of all executor types.
https://circleci.com/docs/2.0/configuration-reference/#jobs

Note: Jobs have a maximum runtime of 5 hours. If your jobs are timing out, consider running some of them in parallel.

The no_output_timeout option is useful for keeping the machine open in the event there are long periods with no output as to not assume the container has crashed. However, no job can run for 5 hours or longer.

is normal for it to take longer than 5 hours?

Almost certainly not but that would depend on what task you are attempting to perform. Most user’s jobs complete within minutes rather than hours.

If your job is suddenly taking unexpectedly more time than previously, we would recommend contacting support: https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/requests/new