GitHub Actions removals · checked

ubuntu-latest moves to Ubuntu 26.04 from 19 Oct 2026: what changes

ubuntu-latest moving to Ubuntu 26.04: moves to Ubuntu 26.04 between 19 Oct and 19 Nov 2026, starting in 10 days. Jobs on ubuntu-latest start running on Ubuntu 26.04 instead of 24.04, a share of jobs at a time, until the move is complete. Builds that rely on 24.04's packages, system libraries, compilers or prebuilt binaries may break; nothing in the workflow file changes. The fix: Run a branch on ubuntu-26.04 now to see what breaks; to stay on 24.04, change runs-on to ubuntu-24.04. Check your workflows now, with nothing to install: grep -rnE "ubuntu-latest" .github/workflows

$ grep -rnE "ubuntu-latest" .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
ubuntu-latest moving to Ubuntu 26.04
Matches
Runner labels ubuntu-latest, in runs-on or a matrix
Effect
Warns; the job still runs
Announced
17 September 2026
Date
19 Oct to 19 Nov 2026moves to Ubuntu 26.04 between 19 Oct and 19 Nov 2026, starting in 10 days
After the date
Jobs on ubuntu-latest start running on Ubuntu 26.04 instead of 24.04, a share of jobs at a time, until the move is complete. Builds that rely on 24.04's packages, system libraries, compilers or prebuilt binaries may break; nothing in the workflow file changes.
The fix
Run a branch on ubuntu-26.04 now to see what breaks; to stay on 24.04, change runs-on to ubuntu-24.04.

Notes

  • GitHub's software table shows the same versions of Docker Buildx, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud CLIs, Rust, Java and Firefox on both images; the operating system, kernel and systemd change.

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, 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.