Bug Report: Publishing a release via GitHub actions fails for repos created on 2025-11-25

[nkraetzschmar]

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Bug

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When trying to create a release from a GitHub action job via a step like this:

steps:
  - name: test release
    env:
      GH_REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
      GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    run: gh release create test --title test --notes test

It fails for repos newly created today, while the very same action works as expected on pre-existing repos created in the past.
For freshly created repos it fails with:

HTTP 422: Validation Failed (https://api.github.com/repos/gardenlinux/glowing-octo-funicular/releases)
author_id does not have push access to gardenlinux/glowing-octo-funicular

Despite the permissions of the GITHUB_TOKEN looking alright and it having Contents: write:

GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions
  Actions: write
  ArtifactMetadata: write
  Attestations: write
  Checks: write
  Contents: write
  Deployments: write
  Discussions: write
  Issues: write
  Metadata: read
  Models: read
  Packages: write
  Pages: write
  PullRequests: write
  RepositoryProjects: write
  SecurityEvents: write
  Statuses: write

Example:

• created today ❌:
  • https://github.com/gardenlinux/glowing-octo-funicular/actions/runs/19670133092/job/56336632244#step:2:8
• pre-existing repo ✅:
  • https://github.com/gardenlinux/symmetrical-octo-happiness/actions/runs/19670233871/job/56336969353#step:2:8

Looking through the repo settings of both I cannot spot any differences in permissions or similar.

Performing the release creation manually via PAT or the UI works as expected for both types of repos, only publishing a release with the GITHUB_TOKEN appears to be effected.

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[Jannik-Hm]

This is a duplicate of this discussion

It first came up as an issue within the GITHUB_TOKEN in actions, but also appears to not work in the cli.
Also to note that some older repos are also affected, so its not a problem purely about today. Although in my case it appeared in an older repo for me when i created a new action today 🤔. Maybe it has to do with new actions not being granted the right permissions? Idk if that makes sense

[jairoperezaquino]

This also affected an old repo of mine where I was trying to add CI/CD for the first time.

[kyyasilmyradovv]

Hey Friend 👋
This is actually a known behavior — here's what’s happening and a simple fix.

What’s Going On?

• For new repositories, GitHub now defaults the GITHUB_TOKEN to read-only access for contents.
• That means even if your workflow asks for contents: write, the token might not actually have that permission unless the repo settings are adjusted.
• Without that write access, trying to create a release fails with the “author_id does not have push access” error.

✅ How to Fix It?

1. Go to your repo settings → Actions → General
2. Under Workflow permissions, set it to “Read and write” for the GITHUB_TOKEN.
3. In your workflow YAML, add:

permissions:
  contents: write

4. Then run your release step again — it should work now.

If you do that, the gh release create ... command in your action should be able to push the release without the 422 error.

[xworld21]

My just created repository already has 'Read and write' permissions under settings -> Actions -> General, but I still cannot run the 'gh release create', even though I am using a workflow that has worked flawlessly in other repositories up until yesterday.

[artem-zinnatullin]

Same as @xworld21, fresh repo created today, Read and Write permissions, permissions block on the job, still gh release create fails.

This needs to be fixed on GitHub side, gladly ChatGPT was able to find this report, I was losing my mind comparing settings and pipelines between repos that I know have working releases and new repo.

[cryi]

Same issue here. New repo. 😞

[chbornman]

same issue as well on a repo created today. I set write permissions on the GitHub settings page and added "permissions: contents: write" in the yaml config

[Roman86]

same problem. It works in another repo, but fails in the older one. The same workflow code, same repo permissions, no secrets/variables/tokens. Copilot couldn't solve it. The only finding we made:

=== Authenticated (GITHUB_TOKEN) ===
{
  "login": null,
  "id": null
}
=== Authenticated (RELEASE_TOKEN) ===
RELEASE_TOKEN not set

full results: https://github.com/Roman86/react-combo-provider/actions/runs/19688167297/workflow

What's interesting that another workflow (different github action) succeeded in the same repo:
https://github.com/Roman86/react-combo-provider/actions/runs/19687213501/workflow

UPDATE: the service is fixed the next day

[rafaelcpalmeida]

The issue is now fixed.

[Roman86]

I'm confirming. Re-running the same failed job works just fine now

[nkraetzschmar]

yep, can confirm everything works as expected again 🎉