`gh repo edit --add-topic` returns 404 on owned personal repo

[sergei-studennikov]

I'm using the latest GitHub CLI and trying to add topics to my own personal repository using this command:

gh repo edit studennikov-serg/Bridge2Hacker --add-topic android

or via API:

gh api \
  -X PUT \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.mercy-preview+json" \
  repos/studennikov-serg/Bridge2Hacker/topics \
  -f names='["android"]'

In both cases, I get:

Error: HTTP 404: Not Found (https://api.github.com/repos/studennikov-serg/Bridge2Hacker/topics)

{"message":"Not Found","documentation_url":"https://docs.github.com/rest/repos/repos#replace-all-repository-topics","status":"404"}

Details:

• I am the owner of the repo
• The repo is not a fork
• It is under my personal account
• I am authenticated with gh auth login and confirmed with gh auth status
• I can push code to the repo
• The repo is: https://github.com/studennikov-serg/Bridge2Hacker

Expected behavior:
The topic should be added successfully.

Actual behavior:
GitHub API returns 404 when trying to access the topics endpoint.

[andyfeller]

Thank you for reaching out and raising this issue, @sergei-studennikov! 🤔

I'm using the latest GitHub CLI and trying to add topics to my own personal repository using this command:

gh repo edit studennikov-serg/Bridge2Hacker --add-topic android

or via API:

gh api \
  -X PUT \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.mercy-preview+json" \
  repos/studennikov-serg/Bridge2Hacker/topics \
  -f names='["android"]'

Did you use studennikov-serg for your username instead of sergei-studennikov in the examples above?

What happens when you run gh repo edit sergei-studennikov/Bridge2Hacker --add-topic android?

[sergei-studennikov]

I've tried both of the following commands:

gh repo edit sergei-studennikov/Bridge2Hacker --add-topic android
gh repo edit https://github.com/studennikov-serg/Bridge2Hacker --add-topic android

Both return the same error.

To eliminate the possibility of network/firewall issues, I'm using a personal VPS (Google Cloud) with a VPN exit node located in the USA.

GitHub CLI authentication appears to be functioning properly:

gh auth status

Returns:

github.com
  ✓ Logged in to github.com account sergei-studennikov (keyring)
  - Active account: true
  - Git operations protocol: https
  - Token: gho_************************************
  - Token scopes: 'gist', 'read:org', 'repo', 'workflow'

Please advise if there's something wrong with how the repository URL is specified, or if additional permissions are required to use --add-topic.

Thanks!

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had any activity in the last 30 days,
and it will be closed in 30 days if no further activity occurs.

If you think this is a mistake, please comment on this issue to keep it open.

[aignas]

I am facing the same issue and it seems that the user input has been provided.

[BagToad]

I am facing the same issue and it seems that the user input has been provided.

👋 Hey @aignas, could you provide the GH_DEBUG=api gh repo edit output? I'll take a look.

[aignas]

It was for repos that I did not have manage permissions:

* Request at 2025-09-11 16:45:58.92452149 +0900 JST m=+0.039916347
* Request to https://api.github.com/repos/private-org/private-repo
> PATCH /repos/private-org/private-repo HTTP/1.1
> Host: api.github.com
> Accept: application/vnd.github.merge-info-preview+json, application/vnd.github.nebula-preview
> Authorization: token ████████████████████
> Content-Length: 26
> Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
> Time-Zone: Asia/Tokyo
> User-Agent: GitHub CLI 2.78.0

{
  "default_branch": "main"
}

< HTTP/2.0 404 Not Found
< Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
< Access-Control-Expose-Headers: ETag, Link, Location, Retry-After, X-GitHub-OTP, X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Used, X-RateLimit-Resource, X-RateLimit-Reset, X-OAuth-Scopes, X-Accepted-OAuth-Scopes, X-Poll-Interval, X-GitHub-Media-Type, X-GitHub-SSO, X-GitHub-Request-Id, Deprecation, Sunset
< Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'none'
< Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
< Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:45:59 GMT
< Referrer-Policy: origin-when-cross-origin, strict-origin-when-cross-origin
< Server: github.com
< Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains; preload
< Vary: Accept-Encoding, Accept, X-Requested-With
< X-Accepted-Oauth-Scopes:
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< X-Frame-Options: deny
< X-Github-Api-Version-Selected: 2022-11-28
< X-Github-Media-Type: github.v3; param=merge-info-preview.nebula-preview; format=json
< X-Github-Request-Id: 5BFC:2DC19E:65D3F6:7F99FF:68C27E36
< X-Oauth-Client-Id: 178c6fc778ccc68e1d6a
< X-Oauth-Scopes: gist, read:org, repo
< X-Ratelimit-Limit: 5000
< X-Ratelimit-Remaining: 4999
< X-Ratelimit-Reset: 1757580359
< X-Ratelimit-Resource: core
< X-Ratelimit-Used: 1
< X-Xss-Protection: 0

{
  "message": "Not Found",
  "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest/repos/repos#update-a-repository",
  "status": "404"
}

* Request took 319.629764ms
HTTP 404: Not Found (https://api.github.com/repos/private-org/private-repo)

Having a better error message would probably help. FYI, the repo was managed by terraform.

[vchrombie]

$ gh repo edit chaoss/grimoirelab --add-topic glab
HTTP 404: Not Found (https://api.github.com/repos/chaoss/grimoirelab/topics)

$ gh repo edit vchrombie/grimoirelab --add-topic glab
✓ Edited repository vchrombie/grimoirelab

Works correctly for me, tested for a private repository too

[aignas]

This can be closed.