janhq/jan · error

Failed to fetch releases

Error message

Failed to fetch releases

What it means

Thrown in useReleaseNotes.fetchLatestRelease when the GitHub API request to https://api.github.com/repos/janhq/jan/releases responds with a non-OK status. The hook needs the release list to compute the latest stable (non-prerelease, non-draft) release.

Solutions

1. Check the response status; if 403, wait for the GitHub API rate-limit window to reset (see X-RateLimit-Reset header)
2. Verify api.github.com is reachable (proxy/VPN/firewall) and retry
3. Add an Authorization token to the request to raise the rate limit
4. Check https://www.githubstatus.com for GitHub API incidents

Example fix

// before
const res = await fetch('https://api.github.com/repos/janhq/jan/releases')
if (!res.ok) throw new Error('Failed to fetch releases')
// after
const res = await fetch('https://api.github.com/repos/janhq/jan/releases')
if (!res.ok) {
  if (res.status === 403) throw new Error('GitHub API rate limit exceeded; try again later')
  throw new Error(`Failed to fetch releases (HTTP ${res.status})`)
}

try {
  const release = await fetchLatestRelease(includeBeta)
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'Failed to fetch releases') {
    showCachedReleaseNotes()
  } else {
    throw e
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: fetch to the GitHub releases endpoint resolves but res.ok is false — 403 rate limiting, 404 if the repo moved, 5xx server errors, or blocked network/proxy responses.

Common situations: Unauthenticated GitHub API rate limit exceeded (60 req/hr per IP) on shared networks or CI; corporate proxy/VPN blocking api.github.com; GitHub incidents; repo renamed causing 404 with old hardcoded URL.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API error: {status}" and "HTTP 401/403/404/429/5xx" errors: non-2xx HTTP responses explained — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• API request failed with status
• Failed to fetch models from
• Failed to fetch HuggingFace repository
• Failed to fetch model catalog
• Failed to fetch repository files

AI-assisted analysis of janhq/jan@7205d770c1 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/33e0da01681c5501. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at web-app/src/hooks/useReleaseNotes.ts:30

type ReleaseState = {
  release: Release | null
  loading: boolean
  error: string | null
  fetchLatestRelease: (includeBeta: boolean) => Promise<void>
}

export const useReleaseNotes = create<ReleaseState>((set) => ({
  release: null,
  loading: false,
  error: null,

  fetchLatestRelease: async (includeBeta: boolean) => {
    set({ loading: true, error: null })
    try {
      const res = await fetch(
        'https://api.github.com/repos/janhq/jan/releases'
      )
      if (!res.ok) throw new Error('Failed to fetch releases')
      const releases = await res.json()

      const stableRelease = releases.find(
        (release: { prerelease: boolean; draft: boolean }) =>
          !release.prerelease && !release.draft
      )
      const betaRelease = releases.find(
        (release: { prerelease: boolean }) => release.prerelease
      )

      const selected = includeBeta
        ? (betaRelease ?? stableRelease)
        : stableRelease
      set({ release: selected, loading: false })
    } catch (err: any) {
      set({ error: err.message, loading: false })
    }
  },

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