GitHub Copilot CLI 0.0.365 stuck at starting, when GitHub API rate limit exceeded for my IP

[lyh543]

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Version Info:

copilot --version
0.0.365
Commit: 76d0881

I'm running Copilot CLI on my server, it stucks for about 8mins+ and no output.

I try to get some logs with copilot --log-dir . --log-level debug, however no log files are created either.

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Then I downgrade Copilot CLI to 0.0.354 (Commit: 076bd172b), it works normally and I get some logs like:

tail -f /var/log/github-copilot-cli/session-xxxx.log
2025-12-01T11:58:00.209Z [DEBUG] Fetched Copilot URL for xxx from https://api.github.com/graphql: 200 https://api.business.githubcopilot.com
2025-12-01T11:58:00.209Z [LOG] Starting remote MCP client for github-mcp-server with url: https://api.business.githubcopilot.com/mcp/readonly
2025-12-01T11:58:00.209Z [LOG] Creating MCP client for github-mcp-server...
2025-12-01T11:58:00.213Z [LOG] Connecting MCP client for github-mcp-server...
2025-12-01T11:58:00.687Z [DEBUG] Fetched Copilot URL for xxx from https://api.github.com/graphql: 200 https://api.business.githubcopilot.com
2025-12-01T11:58:00.688Z [DEBUG] Creating copilot-client for integration ID copilot-developer-cli with token authentication. User-agent: copilot/0.0.354 (linux v25.1.0) OpenAI/5.20.1
2025-12-01T11:58:01.715Z [LOG] MCP client for github-mcp-server connected, took 1502ms
2025-12-01T11:58:01.715Z [LOG] Started MCP client for remote server github-mcp-server
2025-12-01T11:58:01.715Z [LOG] GitHub MCP server configured after authentication
2025-12-01T11:58:03.625Z [DEBUG] Successfully listed 25 models

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I try to curl https://api.github.com/graphql, and get output:

curl https://api.github.com/graphql
{"message":"API rate limit exceeded for xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. (But here's the good news: Authenticated requests get a higher rate limit. Check out the documentation for more details.)","documentation_url":"https://docs.github.com/rest/overview/resources-in-the-rest-api#rate-limiting"

I wonder whether the first request to https://api.github.com/graphql is unauthenticated, and therefore block Copilot CLI to start?

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[AyanSaha-CSE-72]

GitHub Copilot CLI version 0.0.365 gets stuck at "starting" due to GitHub API rate limits tied to your IP address, which restrict requests (e.g., 60/hour unauthenticated or higher for authenticated). This commonly affects CLI tools during heavy usage, even with Copilot Pro, as overall service health limits apply separately from premium requests.

[lyh543]

In this case, is there a way to login to GitHub to bypass the restrictions?