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How to Fix Chromatic CI Failures in GitHub Actions

Trace Chromatic failures to the failing Actions step: check the project token, production Storybook build, stories, Git context, visual-change policy, and required PR status.
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Start with the first relevant error in the failed GitHub Actions step—not a wholesale workflow rewrite. Chromatic can fail while installing dependencies, building Storybook for production, extracting or rendering stories, detecting Git context, or reporting a pull-request check. Identify that layer, then apply the matching fix below.

Find the step and error that actually failed

Open the failed Actions run, expand the Chromatic step, and locate the first meaningful error—not just the final nonzero exit code. Note whether the failure occurred during dependency installation, Storybook’s production build, story extraction or rendering, upload or verification, Git metadata detection, or pull-request status reporting. Chromatic’s CLI exit codes distinguish outcomes, but the message and build result determine what to investigate:

Exit code Chromatic result What to check
0 OK The action completed successfully. A visual difference does not necessarily make the action fail.
1 BUILD_HAS_CHANGES Review the detected visual changes and your action’s exitZeroOnChanges setting.
2 BUILD_HAS_ERRORS Inspect the build result and its reported errors.
3 BUILD_FAILED Find the underlying build or execution error in the step log.
4 BUILD_NO_STORIES Check that the Storybook output contains stories and that snapshots are not disabled.
5 BUILD_WAS_LIMITED Inspect the build result to see why the build was limited.

These are Chromatic CLI result codes, not interchangeable diagnoses. The GitHub Action also exposes a code output and build-related outputs such as build URLs and snapshot or change counts; use them to report or locate a result, not instead of inspecting the Chromatic build. See Chromatic’s CLI documentation.

Check the action, token, and project directory

Chromatic’s documented GitHub Actions setup checks out the repository, installs dependencies, and runs chromaui/action with the project token supplied as a GitHub secret. A minimal workflow step looks like this:

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- name: Run Chromatic
  uses: chromaui/action@latest
  with:
    projectToken: ${{ secrets.CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN }}

Use the action syntax and current version guidance in Chromatic’s GitHub Actions guide. The example uses @latest, which receives updates automatically. Chromatic also documents @vX for following a major version and @vX.Y.Z for pinning a specific version. Tags and examples can change, so check the current documentation and repository tags before choosing.

Verify the secret safely

  • In the repository that runs the workflow, open Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions and confirm the repository secret CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN exists and matches the intended Chromatic project.
  • Check that the workflow references it as ${{ secrets.CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN }}, not as a literal token.
  • Forked repositories do not receive repository-level secrets. A workflow from a fork may therefore lack the token even when the upstream repository has it.
  • Never print the token in logs or commit it as ordinary workflow text. Anyone with access to a plaintext token can run builds against its project.

Check monorepo and prebuilt Storybook paths

If the repository contains multiple apps or packages, confirm the action runs from the Storybook project’s directory, uses the matching project token, and can find the appropriate package script. If your workflow builds Storybook in an earlier step, configure Chromatic to use the output directory with storybookBuildDir. Consult the action inputs and examples for the syntax that fits your build arrangement.

Fix “Failed to build Storybook” locally first

Chromatic builds Storybook in production mode. A project can run under storybook dev yet fail when built for production; that does not, by itself, point to a GitHub Actions problem. Chromatic explains this behavior in its CLI documentation.

  1. Run the project’s Storybook production build locally, commonly npm run build-storybook. Use the equivalent script for your package manager or project.
  2. Fix the first underlying compiler, dependency, or Storybook configuration error reported by that build.
  3. Serve and open the generated output locally if you need to reproduce how the built Storybook behaves, rather than relying only on the development server.
  4. Run the workflow again after the production build succeeds.

When local production builds pass but Chromatic still fails, move on to diagnostics and CI-specific checks rather than changing unrelated workflow settings.

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Fix story extraction and “Cannot run a build with no stories”

“Failed to extract stories from your Storybook”

Chromatic’s troubleshooting guidance associates extraction failures with runtime errors in Storybook. Build and open the Storybook locally, then inspect the browser console for the error that prevents stories from being extracted. Resolve that runtime problem and retry the Chromatic build.

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“Cannot run a build with no stories”

Confirm that the local production output actually contains stories and that snapshots have not been disabled. Chromatic’s Quickstart troubleshooting identifies a top-level setting such as chromatic: { disableSnapshot: true } as one possible reason. Remove an unintended broad disable or re-enable the snapshots you want included; do not assume that an empty result means the action token is wrong.

Check Git, checkout history, and branch context

Chromatic uses Git metadata to associate builds with commits and pull requests and to identify baselines. Check Git context when logs mention Git, commits or branches; when a detached HEAD is reported; or when a successful build appears against the wrong commit.

  • Git is missing or history is unavailable: Chromatic says a git log -n 1 error can indicate that Git is absent from the CI environment or that repository history is unavailable. Verify that Git is installed and that the checkout contains a .git directory. Chromatic’s CI guide says Docker images need Git version 2.28.0 or later.
  • The checkout has an unexpected ref or detached HEAD: Inspect the checked-out SHA and ref in the actual failed run. Chromatic’s detached HEAD guidance notes that GitHub Actions can encounter this with a pull_request trigger or when checkout lacks a ref.
  • The build is associated with a surprising pull-request commit or baseline: Chromatic’s GitHub Actions guide recommends running on push events because a pull_request workflow can use an ephemeral merge commit and create lost or unexpected baselines in some scenarios. Choose triggers based on your workflow’s needs, and verify the SHA rather than changing triggers blindly.
  • The Chromatic and GitHub commits do not match: Compare the commit hash on the Chromatic build page with the commit in GitHub. Check that the project is linked to the intended repository and that the workflow’s ref and branch identify the commit you meant to test.

If you must supply Git context manually, Chromatic’s CI guidance describes setting CHROMATIC_SHA, CHROMATIC_BRANCH, and CHROMATIC_SLUG together. Make sure all three describe the intended commit, branch, and repository; setting only one can leave the mapping inconsistent. See Automate with CI and Fixing a detached HEAD state in CI.

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Choose how visual changes affect the job

A visual difference is a review result, not automatically a broken Storybook build. The GitHub Action defaults exitZeroOnChanges to true, so detected visual changes can still yield a successful action exit. If your team wants a visual change to fail a required workflow check, set exitZeroOnChanges: false in the action inputs:

with:
  projectToken: ${{ secrets.CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN }}
  exitZeroOnChanges: false

Review the changes in Chromatic: accept changes that are intended, or reject them and change the code when the difference is not intended. Chromatic documents this setting and its behavior in the GitHub Actions guide and configuration reference.

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Do not confuse exitZeroOnChanges with autoAcceptChanges. The first controls whether detected changes can produce a zero exit code; it does not accept them. autoAcceptChanges accepts changes on a configured branch, so use it only when that branch is deliberately governed by your baseline and review policy.

Resolve pending or unsynchronized pull-request checks

A required status that stays pending may mean Chromatic never reported a result for that commit. Chromatic says PR check state is driven by the build result; it cannot be marked passed independently of that result. Check the workflow and project configuration before assuming the build itself failed.

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  1. In Chromatic project settings, confirm the relevant UI Test or UI Review check is enabled and that the project is linked to the intended Git provider.
  2. In GitHub’s branch protection or ruleset, require the status check your team actually intends to gate on. A required check that is disabled in Chromatic may remain pending.
  3. Confirm that the Chromatic action runs for every commit that needs the check. A conditionally skipped action step can leave the required status without a result.
  4. If you need a skipped build to resolve a status, Chromatic recommends using its --skip behavior rather than skipping the CI step outright. Follow the current mandatory PR checks guide for the supported setup.
  5. If a build has visual changes awaiting review, complete the review; that pending review can keep the associated check pending.
  6. If GitHub and Chromatic show different commit results, compare the exact SHAs and check the ref and any manually supplied CHROMATIC_SHA, CHROMATIC_BRANCH, and CHROMATIC_SLUG values.

Keep required checks enabled only when the workflow reports them for the commits that must pass and the team has a clear process for reviewing visual changes. See Chromatic’s mandatory PR checks guidance and CI troubleshooting.

Investigate “Build verification timed out” and intermittent failures

For “Build verification timed out,” first determine whether the Storybook server stopped early or the network connection was interrupted. Chromatic identifies server or connection loss as possible causes. Its FAQ names STORYBOOK_BUILD_TIMEOUT and CHROMATIC_TIMEOUT as ways to increase the time allowed. Increase a limit only after checking which step is slow or interrupted: a longer timeout will not repair a crashed build or lost connection. See Chromatic’s timeout FAQ.

For slow Git operations, Chromatic’s configuration reference lists gitTimeout with a 20-second default for an individual Git operation and shows a larger value as an example. Adjust it when evidence points to a slow Git operation, not as a general remedy for Storybook or network errors.

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Chromatic notes that some intermittent service or build failures can be infrastructure-related and suggests rerunning a failed build in that situation. Keep the build URL and relevant logs so you can tell whether a rerun confirms a transient failure or reproduces a project-specific problem.

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Collect useful diagnostics without exposing secrets

If the ordinary log does not identify the cause, Chromatic documents --dry-run, --debug, and --diagnostics-file. For example, run:

npx chromatic --dry-run --debug --diagnostics-file

Use the resulting output to investigate process and environment context. Before sharing logs or diagnostic files, redact project tokens and sensitive project details. Chromatic’s CLI documentation and configuration reference explain the available options.

Or skip the browser setup

If you need screenshots of web pages as part of diagnosing or documenting a UI, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server for developers. It is separate from Chromatic: it does not run Chromatic visual tests or fix a failing GitHub Actions build.

One GET request returns a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. For example, save a screenshot of your Storybook URL as a WebP file:

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does a Chromatic visual change always mean the GitHub Actions job should fail?

No. The action’s default exitZeroOnChanges behavior allows detected changes to exit successfully; set it to false if changes should fail the job.

Why can a required Chromatic check stay pending when the build has no visible error?

The action may have been skipped, or the corresponding UI Test or UI Review check may not be enabled in Chromatic. Check the reported status for the exact commit.

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Can ScreenshotNeo replace Chromatic’s visual regression checks?

No. ScreenshotNeo captures web pages; Chromatic builds Storybook and runs visual tests.

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