diff --git a/act/runner/run_context.go b/act/runner/run_context.go
index b2204d3e..44cd95a0 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context.go
@@ -1104,9 +1104,7 @@ func (rc *RunContext) Executor() (common.Executor, error) {
 	return func(ctx context.Context) error {
 		res, err := rc.isEnabled(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
-			// Record the failure so a job whose if-expression fails to evaluate
-			// gets a result (and therefore a stop time) instead of being left
-			// unfinished. rc.caller is only set for reusable workflows.
+			// Record the failure so a job that cannot start gets a stop time. rc.caller is only set for reusable workflows.
 			rc.result("failure")
 			if rc.caller != nil { // For Gitea
 				rc.caller.setReusedWorkflowJobResult(rc.Run.JobID, "failure")
@@ -1197,7 +1195,7 @@ func (rc *RunContext) isEnabled(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 	jobType, jobTypeErr := job.Type()
 
 	if runJobErr != nil {
-		return false, fmt.Errorf("if-expression %q evaluation failed: %s", job.If.Value, runJobErr)
+		l.Errorf("Error when evaluating 'if' for job '%s'. %v", rc.Run.JobID, runJobErr)
 	}
 
 	if jobType == model.JobTypeInvalid {
diff --git a/act/runner/run_context_test.go b/act/runner/run_context_test.go
index 233c0867..9abd8651 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context_test.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context_test.go
@@ -1141,6 +1141,13 @@ if: always()`, ""),
 if: false`, ""),
 	})
 	assertObject.False(rc.isEnabled(context.Background()))
+
+	rc = createIfTestRunContext(map[string]*model.Job{
+		"job1": createJob(t, `if: ${{ fromJSON('not-json') }}`, ""),
+	})
+	enabled, err := rc.isEnabled(context.Background())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assertObject.False(enabled)
 }
 
 func TestRunContextGetEnv(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index b17ebe8d..5bde57f8 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ toolchain go1.27.1
 require (
 	connectrpc.com/connect v1.21.0
 	dario.cat/mergo v1.0.2
-	gitea.dev/actionslib v1.2.0
+	gitea.dev/actionslib v1.2.1
 	github.com/avast/retry-go/v5 v5.0.0
 	github.com/containerd/errdefs v1.0.0
 	github.com/creack/pty v1.1.24
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 7dd7a955..84239547 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ cyphar.com/go-pathrs v0.2.5 h1:SnX9FBvnoyn3lUs1dkMgZ52bAETpirNu3FTRh5HlRik=
 cyphar.com/go-pathrs v0.2.5/go.mod h1:y8f1EMG7r+hCuFf/rXsKqMJrJAUoADZGNh5/vZPKcGc=
 dario.cat/mergo v1.0.2 h1:85+piFYR1tMbRrLcDwR18y4UKJ3aH1Tbzi24VRW1TK8=
 dario.cat/mergo v1.0.2/go.mod h1:E/hbnu0NxMFBjpMIE34DRGLWqDy0g5FuKDhCb31ngxA=
-gitea.dev/actionslib v1.2.0 h1:R/PBu9DwD04tCd5rjAWT9dAa+S6GOk1XnXCC3T2Rrnw=
-gitea.dev/actionslib v1.2.0/go.mod h1:1+gqOKGSEPn2IFHgY8S3GC5Ld+Hn8jF3OxiFHQ/fpx4=
+gitea.dev/actionslib v1.2.1 h1:GL//K/0zIZV6h1OOksv1awvFVg0rg7fug2xWcG7mkG0=
+gitea.dev/actionslib v1.2.1/go.mod h1:1+gqOKGSEPn2IFHgY8S3GC5Ld+Hn8jF3OxiFHQ/fpx4=
 github.com/AdaLogics/go-fuzz-headers v0.0.0-20240806141605-e8a1dd7889d6 h1:He8afgbRMd7mFxO99hRNu+6tazq8nFF9lIwo9JFroBk=
 github.com/AdaLogics/go-fuzz-headers v0.0.0-20240806141605-e8a1dd7889d6/go.mod h1:8o94RPi1/7XTJvwPpRSzSUedZrtlirdB3r9Z20bi2f8=
 github.com/Microsoft/go-winio v0.5.2/go.mod h1:WpS1mjBmmwHBEWmogvA2mj8546UReBk4v8QkMxJ6pZY=
diff --git a/internal/app/run/workflow.go b/internal/app/run/workflow.go
index 65e9c771..af05e143 100644
--- a/internal/app/run/workflow.go
+++ b/internal/app/run/workflow.go
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func generateWorkflow(task *runnerv1.Task) (*model.Workflow, string, error) {
-	workflow, err := model.ReadWorkflow(bytes.NewReader(task.WorkflowPayload))
+	workflow, err := model.ReadWorkflowPayload(bytes.NewReader(task.WorkflowPayload))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, "", err
 	}