Microsoft confirms GitHub outage hits API, Actions and Copilot worldwide
This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.
GitHub, owned by Microsoft, confirmed an outage at 9:40 a.m. EDT on Aug. 17, 2026 that degraded API requests, Actions, pull requests and webhooks. The company reported error rates around 20 percent for web experiences and API traffic and about 50 percent for archive and raw repository downloads. By 11:42 a.m. EDT, GitHub said it was performing mitigations, while the cause had not been disclosed.
Key Facts
- GitHub Actions was degraded, and Copilot was confirmed as degraded at 10:31 a.m. EDT.
- SAML and OIDC authentication, SCIM, and Team Sync were affected by the incident.
- Git Operations, Packages, Pages, and Codespaces remained listed as operational during the outage.
- The outage was at least the second major disruption to a Microsoft platform in recent weeks after Xbox services were knocked offline for several hours late last month.
Outage Scope
GitHub's status page reported error rates around 20 percent for web experiences and API traffic and approximately 50 percent for archive downloads and raw repository content downloads. Authentication-related services including SAML and OIDC authentication, SCIM, and Team Sync were affected. Git Operations, Packages, Pages, and Codespaces were listed as operational, while API Requests, Actions, Webhooks, Issues, and Pull Requests remained degraded. Some users encountered server errors when accessing GitHub or loading commits, repositories, and Pull Request pages.
Actions and Copilot
GitHub Actions was degraded, affecting automated builds, tests, deployments, and other CI/CD workflows. At 10:31 a.m. EDT, GitHub confirmed that Copilot was also experiencing degraded availability. GitHub said the Copilot degradation expanded the outage to its AI coding services.
Mitigation and Cause
At 11:42 a.m. EDT, GitHub said it was performing mitigations and monitoring for improvement. Error rates remained around 20 percent for web experiences and API traffic, while archive and raw repository content downloads continued to see approximately 50 percent error rates. GitHub had not disclosed the cause of the outage and said its investigation was ongoing. The outage was at least the second major disruption to a Microsoft platform in recent weeks after Xbox services were knocked offline for several hours late last month.
3 sources
Microsoft confirms GitHub outage hits API, Actions and Copilot worldwide
