Copilot Now Offers Insights into Failed Actions Jobs (GA)

GitHub Copilot has introduced a new feature that allows users to inquire about failed Actions jobs, now Generally Available (GA). Users can simply click on the "Explain Error" button within the pull request merge box or the Actions job page to engage Copilot in a conversation about the failure. Copilot provides customized advice on how to address the issue.

To utilize this feature, navigate to the pull request merge box, choose "More actions" for a failing check, and then select "Explain Error" for assistance. Alternatively, on the job page for the failed job, click the same button located next to the search bar.

Copilot is capable of analyzing one job at a time, and each use consumes a chat message. For details on chat allowances across different Copilot plans, refer to the Copilot subscriptions page.

Phi-4 Now Accessible in GitHub Models (GA)

The newest AI model from Phi, known as Phi-4, is now accessible in GitHub Models. Phi-4 is a 14B parameter state-of-the-art small language model (SLM) that stands out in complex reasoning and standard language processing tasks.

GitHub Models simplifies the process for developers to create AI features and products on GitHub. Developers can experiment with, compare, and integrate this model into their code at no cost in the playground or through the API. A side-by-side comparison with a previous Phi model is also available in GitHub Models.

For further information on GitHub Models, consult the product documentation available on GitHub.

GitHub Actions: Upcoming Changes to Ubuntu 20 Runner Image

Retirement of Ubuntu 20 Image

The Ubuntu 20 hosted runner image is being phased out in accordance with the N-1 OS support policy, with full retirement set for April 1, 2025. Users are advised to transition their workflows to ubuntu-22.04 or ubuntu-24.04.

Scheduled Brownout Dates

To alert users of the impending removal, jobs utilizing the ubuntu-20.04 label will temporarily fail starting in March 2025. The brownout periods are scheduled as follows:

• March 4, 14:00 UTC – 22:00 UTC
• March 11, 13:00 UTC – 21:00 UTC
• March 18, 13:00 UTC – 21:00 UTC
• March 25, 13:00 UTC – 21:00 UTC

Breaking Changes to Hosted Runner Images

For a comprehensive list of this month's breaking changes to hosted runner images, please visit the announcement page.

Artifact Actions v3 Brownouts

Artifact actions v3 will be discontinued by January 30th, 2025. To inform users of the upcoming removal, jobs using v3 of actions/upload-artifact or actions/download-artifact will temporarily fail during the brownout periods. The scheduled brownout dates and times are:

• January 16th, 3pm – 7pm UTC
• January 23rd, 2pm – 10pm UTC

Note: v3 of the artifact actions will remain supported for GitHub Enterprise Server customers, and the brownouts and retirement will not impact their workflows.

Closure of actions/cache v1-v2 and actions/toolkit Cache Package

Starting February 1st, 2025, Actions' cache storage will transition to a new architecture, leading to the discontinuation of v1-v2 of actions/cache. Concurrently, all versions of the @actions/cache package prior to 4.0.0 in actions/toolkit will also be retired. Workflows that call these retired versions after March 1st, 2025, will fail.

Users are encouraged to upgrade to actions/cache v4 or v3 promptly to prevent disruptions in March. Migration guidance can be found in the announcements within the actions/cache and actions/toolkit repositories.

To raise awareness of the upcoming deprecation, brownouts have been scheduled for the following dates and times, during which builds will fail:

• February 4, 5pm – 6pm UTC
• February 11, 3pm – 7pm UTC
• February 18, 2pm – 10pm UTC

Note: All versions of actions/cache will continue to be supported for GitHub Enterprise Server customers, and the retirement will not affect their workflows.