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[ARTICLE · art-100188] src=machinebrief.com ↗ pub= topic=developer-tools verified=true sentiment=↓ negative

GitHub has Issues as repo downloads hit 50% error rate

GitHub reported a 50 percent error rate on repository content downloads and degraded availability for GitHub Copilot starting at 1340 UTC, with Issues also affected. The outage is the latest in a series of disruptions, following earlier problems with GitHub Actions and Pages in August, and comes as the company acknowledges AI-assisted coding is adding strain. GitHub's SVP of software engineering, Jakub Oleksy, had previously promised structural changes to 'permanently remove failure modes,' but today's incident shows ongoing reliability challenges.

read2 min views2 publishedAug 17, 2026
GitHub has Issues as repo downloads hit 50% error rate
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Source:

The RegisterCopilot also wobbles as another outage tests developer patience

Microsoft's GitHub source shack is reporting a 50 percent error rate on repository content downloads. GitHub

Copilotis also "experiencing degraded availability." The problems began at 1340 UTC, when the company's status page reported "impacted performance for some GitHub services." This rapidly escalated to degraded performance across numerous services, including Issues – which was, appropriately enough, experiencing an issue of its own. GitHub is investigating and has promised an update, but today's incident is only the latest in a string of disruptions that have left developer nerves frayed. Earlier in August, GitHub's Actions automation platform and Pages hosting service experienced problems. In its May 2026 availability report, the company acknowledged that AI-assisted coding and agentic workflows were adding to the strain. GitHub parent Microsoft boasted last year that AI was writing as much as 30 percent of the code in some of its repositories, subject to human review, according to CEO Satya Nadella. Addressing GitHub's repeated outages in June, software engineering SVP Jakub Oleksy said structural changes were afoot to "permanently remove failure modes." "We acknowledge that we have work to do, but we're committed to getting it done and making GitHub reliable when and where you need it." Brave words, but today's disruption demonstrates that there is still plenty of work to do – and each recurrence further tests developer confidence in the service. Unsurprisingly, developers took to social media to vent their frustration as Monday Mondayed even harder thanks to the issues. One posted, "Github down again, abou[t] as surprising as the sun rising." Another was more plaintive: "Github is really falling apart. Can we stop being down please... We got work to do." The cause remains unknown, but GitHub's disruptions are stacking up, leaving developers to count the idle hours and consider alternatives. "Maybe," pondered one developer, "the AI code submissions are too massive for them servers." Maybe they are. ®Get AI news in your inbox

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