What causes "Github latest release url not found" in Budibase/budibase?

Ask the plugin maintainer to upload a .tar.gz asset (with gzip content type) to the GitHub release.

Github latest release url not found

Error message

Github latest release url not found

What it means

fetchLatestRelease queries the GitHub latest-release API for a plugin's origin repository and looks for a downloadable asset with content type application/gzip (the plugin tarball). If no such asset exists in the release, it throws this error.

Source

Thrown at packages/server/src/sdk/plugins/update.ts:103

async function fetchLatestRelease(
  repo: string,
  token: string
): Promise<ReleaseDetails | null> {
  const url = `${GITHUB_API_ROOT}/${repo}/releases/latest`
  const headers = headersForRequest(token)
  const response = await fetch(url, { headers })

  if (response.status === 404) {
    return null
  }

  const data = await response.json()
  const tarballAsset = (data.assets || []).find(
    (asset: any) => asset?.content_type === "application/gzip"
  )
  const tarballUrl = tarballAsset?.browser_download_url
  if (!tarballUrl) {
    throw new Error("Github latest release url not found")
  }
  const version = normaliseVersion(data.tag_name) || normaliseVersion(data.name)
  if (!version) {
    throw new Error("Github release version not found")
  }
  return {
    version,
    tagName: data.tag_name,
    name: data.name,
    htmlUrl: data.html_url,
    publishedAt: data.published_at,
    tarballUrl,
    etag: response.headers.get("etag") || undefined,
    body: data.body,
  }
}

function buildUpdateInfo(

View on GitHub (pinned to a81a902e9a)

Solutions

Ask the plugin maintainer to upload a .tar.gz asset (with gzip content type) to the GitHub release.
Point the plugin origin at a release/tag that contains a proper tarball asset.
Pin the plugin to a known-good version instead of tracking 'latest'.
Check the release's assets via `gh release view <tag> --json assets` to confirm what is published.

Example fix

// before
gh release create v1.0.0  (no assets uploaded)
// after
gh release create v1.0.0 plugin-1.0.0.tar.gz

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

const release = await fetch(latestUrl).then(r => r.json())
const hasTarball = (release.assets || []).some(a => a.content_type === "application/gzip")
if (!hasTarball) throw new Error("No gzip tarball asset on latest release")

Type guard

const hasGzipAsset = (r: { assets?: { content_type?: string }[] }): boolean => (r.assets ?? []).some(a => a?.content_type === "application/gzip")

Try / catch

try {
  rel = await fetchLatestRelease(origin)
} catch {
  rel = await getFallbackPinnedRelease(origin) // last known-good version
}

Prevention

Publish releases with an explicitly uploaded .tar.gz asset
Note that auto-generated 'Source code' archives don't count as gzip assets
Pin plugin origins to known-good tags for production
Check release assets with `gh release view` before publishing

When it happens

Trigger: Checking a plugin for updates when the latest GitHub release has no .tar.gz/gzip asset, or the asset's content_type field is set to something else (e.g. application/x-tar or application/octet-stream).

Common situations: Plugin maintainers published a release with only source archives (auto-generated 'Source code (zip/tar.gz)' have no content_type asset entry) rather than an uploaded tarball; release assets were deleted; private repos returning a release without assets.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Budibase/budibase@a81a902e9a (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2213efec5a0504ec. Report an issue: GitHub.