GitHub Actions removals · checked

macos-14 runner retired 2 Nov 2026: brownout dates and the fix

macOS 14 runner image: removed 2 Nov 2026, in 24 days. Before that, jobs fail during brownouts on 5, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 29 and 30 Oct 2026, 14:00 to 24:00 UTC; the next is 12 Oct, in 3 days. Jobs that ask for macos-14, macos-14-large or macos-14-xlarge are terminated with an error, and they fail during each brownout before then. GitHub may also cut macOS 14 capacity, so queues get longer. The fix: Change runs-on to macos-15 or macos-26 (macos-latest is macOS 26); macos-14-large to macos-15-large; macos-14-xlarge to macos-15-xlarge. Check your workflows now, with nothing to install: grep -rnE "macos-14|macos-14-large|macos-14-xlarge" .github/workflows

$ grep -rnE "macos-14|macos-14-large|macos-14-xlarge" .github/workflows

Run it from the repository root; it needs nothing installed and sends nothing anywhere. It finds each name as written in your workflow files; a value set in another file and passed in (a matrix from JSON, a reusable workflow's input) needs a look of its own. The fix is in the first paragraph above. The dates come from this data.

The facts

What
macOS 14 runner image
Matches
Runner labels macos-14, macos-14-large, macos-14-xlarge, in runs-on or a matrix
Effect
Breaks a job
Announced
11 January 2026
Deprecated from
6 July 2026
Date
2 Nov 2026removed 2 Nov 2026, in 24 days
After the date
Jobs that ask for macos-14, macos-14-large or macos-14-xlarge are terminated with an error, and they fail during each brownout before then. GitHub may also cut macOS 14 capacity, so queues get longer.
The fix
Change runs-on to macos-15 or macos-26 (macos-latest is macOS 26); macos-14-large to macos-15-large; macos-14-xlarge to macos-15-xlarge.
Replace
macos-14 → macos-15macos-14-large → macos-15-largemacos-14-xlarge → macos-15-xlarge

Brownouts: the days jobs fail before the removal

During each window GitHub fails every job that asks for it, to make the removal noticed. A scheduled run that lands in one fails too.

DayJobs fail (UTC)Status
14:00 to 24:00 UTCpassed
14:00 to 24:00 UTCahead
14:00 to 24:00 UTCahead
14:00 to 24:00 UTCahead
14:00 to 24:00 UTCahead
14:00 to 24:00 UTCahead
14:00 to 24:00 UTCahead
14:00 to 24:00 UTCahead

Sources

An email before each brownout, for the repos you watch, is not built.

It would re-read your workflows every day and email you a week and a day before each brownout or removal that would hit them (for macOS 14 runner image: 5, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 29 and 30 Oct 2026), with no change to your repo. agentcheck's free hourly watch covers MCP servers only today. If you would pay for this one, say so with one click. The click is counted; nothing else is sent or stored.

Other GitHub Actions removals

Every removal, by date

actions-eol is a free tool from agentcheck, which runs scheduled checks of your endpoints and alerts you when an answer changes. Dates come from GitHub's own pages, read on the day shown; github.com only, since GitHub Enterprise Server keeps its own schedule.