GitHub says unusual traffic may trigger temporary authentication requirements for some HTTPS clones and fetches of public repositories. An affected operation will fail with a message indicating that authentication is required. The protection applies to repositories on github.com across all plans.
This matters for CI jobs and scripts that download code anonymously. For more reliable automation, GitHub recommends GITHUB_TOKEN in GitHub Actions and a GitHub App installation access token in other CI systems; personal access tokens are also supported. Alternatively, retry after the restriction is lifted.
Authenticated HTTPS operations, Git over SSH and pushes remain unaffected. GitHub says narrowly targeted protection can occasionally catch legitimate traffic. This is not a general authentication requirement for public repositories.
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