GitHub has Issues as repo downloads hit 50% error rate

GitHub's platform is grappling with a 50 percent error rate on repository content downloads, according to its source shack. The issues appear to have begun at 1340 UTC when GitHub's status page reported performance impacts for some services. The problems rapidly escalated to degraded performance across numerous services, including the Issues feature, which was itself experiencing an issue.

GitHub has pledged to investigate and provide an update, but the incident is the latest in a series of disruptions that have left developers frustrated. Earlier in August, GitHub's Actions automation platform and Pages hosting service also experienced problems. In its May 2026 availability report, the company attributed the strain to AI-assisted coding and agentic workflows.

Microsoft, GitHub's parent company, acknowledged in 2023 that AI was writing up to 30 percent of code in some repositories. GitHub's software engineering VP, Jakub Oleksy, recently stated that structural changes were underway to permanently eliminate failure modes. While the company remains committed to improving reliability, the repeated outages demonstrate that significant work remains to be done.

Developers have taken to social media to express their frustration, with some calling the platform "falling apart." The cause of the current disruption remains unknown, but the mounting issues are prompting developers to consider alternatives.