try without any lists run failed. Didn't get out of the gate. Try making true a bollean always despite https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idstrategyfail-fast example of: jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-latest continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.experimental }} strategy: fail-fast: true matrix: version: [6, 7, 8] experimental: [false] include: - version: 9 experimental: true as error annotation from github is: Error when evaluating 'continue-on-error' for job 'test'. .github/workflows/ci-test.yml (Line: 37, Col: 24): A sequence was not expected [skip travis]