> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Cancelling and Skipping Workflows
> This guide explains how to skip and cancel GitHub Actions workflows to optimize CI usage and manage running jobs.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to prevent unnecessary GitHub Actions runs by skipping workflows via commit messages, as well as how to cancel jobs that are already in progress.
## Skipping Workflows via Commit Messages
When you include specific keywords in your commit message, GitHub Actions will ignore `push` and `pull_request` events for that commit. This helps you save CI minutes and speed up your development process.
Skipping workflows with commit messages is case-insensitive and works with or without brackets.
### Supported Keywords
| Pattern | Description |
| ---------- | ------------------------ |
| skip ci | Basic skip command |
| ci skip | Alternate skip command |
| \[skip ci] | Bracketed skip |
| \[ci skip] | Bracketed alternate skip |
> You can also place a footer after two blank lines in your commit message:
>
> ```text theme={null}
> skip-checks: true
> ```
### Example
Imagine you only changed the documentation in `README.md` and want to skip all workflows:
```bash theme={null}
git add README.md
git commit -m "Update README.md [skip ci]"
git push
```
Because the commit message contains `[skip ci]`, GitHub Actions will skip every workflow for that push. Visit the **Actions** tab in your repository to confirm there are no new runs.
## Cancelling In-Progress Workflow Runs
If you need to stop a workflow that’s already running, follow these steps:
1. Go to the **Actions** tab in your GitHub repository.
2. Select the workflow run you wish to cancel.
3. Click **Cancel workflow** in the top-right corner.
This will immediately halt all jobs in that workflow run.
Cancelling a workflow does not roll back any completed jobs or deployed artifacts. Ensure you manually revert changes if necessary.
## Links and References
* [GitHub Actions: Context and expression syntax](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/contexts)
* [GitHub Actions: Using workflow keywords](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/skip-workflow)
* [GitHub Docs](https://docs.github.com/)