Search in repository immediately throws "Too many requests" message

[geldrin]

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When I open a github repo and try to search for a term, the site throws the following error message on the first try:

Only the following actions mitigate the issue:

• logging in
• closing browser and open a new session
• opening an incognito mode

The last time I searched on the site was about 20 hours ago, so this is clearly some kind of cookie TTL related issue.

[mirbyte]

Based on what I found, the search restrictions are intentional. As of June 2023, GitHub extended their login requirement for code search to individual repositories, not just cross-repository searches. According to Martin Woodward, GitHub's VP of Developer Relations, this change was made 'primarily to ensure we can support the load for developers on GitHub and help protect the servers from being overwhelmed by anonymous requests from bots etc.' The solution is to stay logged in to your GitHub account.

[geldrin]

Based on what I found, the search restrictions are intentional. As of June 2023, GitHub extended their login requirement for code search to individual repositories, not just cross-repository searches. According to Martin Woodward, GitHub's VP of Developer Relations, this change was made 'primarily to ensure we can support the load for developers on GitHub and help protect the servers from being overwhelmed by anonymous requests from bots etc.' The solution is to stay logged in to your GitHub account.

I'm pretty sure that a single allowed search per anonymous browser session (or per day) is not the intended behaviour.

[shelbykauth]

I just encountered this as well. I followed a link to a repository, and then tried to search for another repo.

Logging in makes the search work. Using incognito mode makes it work. Even using curl works.

I've searched open-source repositories without being signed in plenty since June of 2023 without this error, so this is definitely a new thing (or specific to Firefox, not logged in, not incognito). If this is to protect servers from being overwhelmed by anonymous bots, then why would accessing the same search url via Incognito mode or using curl be allowed? This is beyond bizarre and reeks of a bug.

[coldmon91]

I had same issue but It looks happen only on the Firefox.
and It depends on when, If I try after some minutes it works

[EvertGeerling]

So in two years Github did not take that minimal effort to change the error message? It is neglect of customers. Unprofessional.

[pinkflames]

I'm not sure, if this is related but I just got basically that same message while searching for a repository via <project>/<repo> syntax using the Firefox search bar (which has GitHub as one of the search backends). As far as I can tell/recall this was the first search query to GitHub that I have made in over a day. I do also have two repositories that I pull from without logging in multiple times a day. Is that the trigger?

[MOO533597]

sudo apt-get install git-core gnupg flex bison build-essential zip curl zlib1g-dev libc6-dev-i386 x11proto-core-dev libx11-dev lib32z1-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libxml2-utils xsltproc unzip fontconfig

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