developer

GitHub Errors

GitHub API errors come in three flavours: REST (HTTP status), GraphQL (typed errors), and Actions (workflow failures). Rate limits (5000/hr authenticated) and SSO authorization are the most common production blockers.

GitHub API rate-limit responses include `X-RateLimit-Remaining` and `X-RateLimit-Reset` headers — always honour them with exponential backoff. Secondary rate limits trigger on rapid sequential requests. SAML SSO errors (403) require token re-authorization in org settings. Webhook delivery failures are visible in Settings → Webhooks → Recent deliveries.

Rate limits (1)

403_rate_limit 403

REST API Rate Limit Exceeded

You exceeded GitHub's primary REST API rate limit — 60 requests/hour for unauthenticated calls, 5,000/hour for personal access tokens, or 15,000/hour for GitHub App installations. The response is HTTP 403 with `X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0`.

Validation (1)

422_validation_failed 422

REST API Validation Failed

GitHub parsed your request but rejected one or more fields — typically a missing required field, a value that breaks a uniqueness constraint, an invalid SHA, or a referenced resource that doesn't exist (e.g., a label name that hasn't been created on the repo).

Official docs

https://docs.github.com/en/rest/overview/troubleshooting

Status page

https://www.githubstatus.com/

Support

https://support.github.com/