Why Codespaces storage usage warning?

[Kebap]

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Hey! A few days ago, I have received an email warning me I had used 75% of included services for GitHub Codespaces Storage.
Then yesterday I received another email with the same warning at 90% now. There were some links to update the spending limit.
However, I didn't even use Codespaces in the meantime. Not to my knowledge at least.
How can this happen? How can I review how or where the storage is/was used exactly?
Maybe I can free up some storage now and reduce the 90% again?
Not sure why it even got so large or increased further the last days.
Thanks for your time and possibly some advice! :)

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[jainam03]

I keep getting email form github support saying that I've used 90% of my Github Codespaces storage services....but when I login and visit the codespaces section it shows that there are no active codespaces....what's wrong exactly? 🤔
please help!

[wmstack]

Same here, I am not aware of any active Codespaces I have but keep being told about some 90% limit even though I don't even remember using Github Codespaces anytime this month.

[dragontheory]

I am getting the same warning. Started last week. Both emails and now a message in VSCode itself that says...

"You've used 90% of included services for GitHub Codespaces Storage. To continue using Codespaces uninterrupted, update your spending limit."

The repo I am editing in Codespaces is 13KB zipped when downloaded from GitHub.

Here is the link.
https://github.com/dragontheory/D7460N

Strange that there are no links or prompts to see how much space I have left or how I have used so much space? Just a link to pay for more space.

Nowhere does Codespace show storage space usage.

Please advise as to how this can be investigated or this error fixed.

Thank you.

[bozdoz]

Same issue here. I do not use GitHub Codespaces, so why am I getting emails claiming "You've used 90% of included services"?

[louh]

I just ran into this issue, and based on this conversation in this thread, it seems this recently rolled out and it's buggy as hell. For one thing, old Codespaces are calculated as accumulating storage every single day, even if you just have one of them and never use it. So one old Codespace at 30 days a month is like saying you have 30 repos using Codespaces a month. It chews through the usage limit incredibly quickly.

Here's what to do:

• See your list of Codespaces here: https://github.com/codespaces (they really need to link this somewhere that's easier to get to)
• Delete all Codespaces (probably one or two you tried, years ago)
• In a few days, double check the usage report and make sure it has stopped accruing usage. The last date should be the day you deleted the codespaces.

[soup-bowl]

You guys have codespaces that are years old?! I can barely have 1 or 2 codespaces lingering before I run out of storage.

[dragontheory]

Even after deleting the one 13k repo (so there is nothing in Codespaces at all) over 6 months ago , I'm still getting the same usage warnings and how I should "upgrade" my plan. Flushed cache and all, but it is still there. My projects are minimal and without external dependencies. Wish they would fix this. I would use Codespaces then.

[soup-bowl]

Gitpod is a good alternative that doesn't set limits on storage, just on hours used.

[vasilvestre]

I don't have any codespace listed but i keep receiving alert because of the max usage.

[ErickRodrCodes]

I don't have any codespace listed but i keep receiving alert because of the max usage.

On the same boat. I don't even have a codespace.

[VEER-TANMAY-SACHIN]

i am using codespaces but storage is only 32 gb :(

[VEER-TANMAY-SACHIN]

i want to build a private llm

[VEER-TANMAY-SACHIN]

codespaces have good bandwidth :) but limited storage

[VEER-TANMAY-SACHIN]

Hey @github thenks for some upgrade

[ErickRodrCodes]

Hello Github. I'm annoyed as hell as I don't have any codespaces, and I have 20GB used???

proof 1: list of codespaces:

Proof 2: Where I have used 20GB of that??

Please Help!!!

[SpamixOfficial]

So, after digging around a little I can safely say that the warning I'm getting is from prebuild storage. From the screenshots I've seen from other people this also seems to be the case for them.

Please GitHub, make your goddamn emails more clear about what you actually mean.

[SpamixOfficial]

Hello Github. I'm annoyed as hell as I don't have any codespaces, and I have 20GB used???

proof 1: list of codespaces:

Proof 2: Where I have used 20GB of that??

Please Help!!!

See my answer above. Prebuild storage is basically the stuff you generate on builds with actions. Try auto-removing some of that!

[ErickRodrCodes]

Hello Github. I'm annoyed as hell as I don't have any codespaces, and I have 20GB used???
proof 1: list of codespaces:

Proof 2: Where I have used 20GB of that??


Please Help!!!

See my answer above. Prebuild storage is basically the stuff you generate on builds with actions. Try auto-removing some of that!

I have checked up my repos, and I find almost impossible I have ever generated any action at all.

[audacioustux]

Facing similar issue... I can't find any prebuild configured on any of my repos but prebuild still taking storage.

[RemyJrd]

I'm so close to close my github account because of that, those dudes are blind, or idiot ?

[hugmouse]

@copilot pls fix this

[keioro]

This can happen because codespaces use storage even when you aren't actively using. Check metered usage settings

[vitorcgo]

Interessante

[hugmouse]

Ok I was able to find which repos were doing that through gh cli. Couldn't find them via github's frontend.

Here's bash script. Have gh, grep, sort installed.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -uo pipefail

command -v gh >/dev/null || { echo "gh is required"; exit 1; }
gh auth status >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "run: gh auth login"; exit 1; }

ME=$(gh api /user -q .login)
echo "account: $ME"

echo
echo "== billing: every codespaces SKUs, quantity =="
gh api "/users/$ME/settings/billing/usage" \
  --jq '.usageItems[] | select(.product=="codespaces") | "\(.date[0:7])  \(.sku)  \(.quantity)"'

echo
echo "== codespaces that still exist =="
gh codespace list --limit 100 || true

echo
echo "== repos with a prebuild config =="
gh api -X GET /search/code -f "q=filename:devcontainer.json user:$ME" \
  --jq '.items[].repository.full_name' 2>/dev/null | sort -u |
  while read -r r; do
    gh workflow list -R "$r" 2>/dev/null | grep -qi prebuild && echo "$r"
  done

It will output something like this:

account: hugmouse

== billing: codespaces SKUs, quantity ==
2026-02  Codespaces compute 2-core  4.73009
2026-02  Codespaces compute 8-core  0.63603
2026-02  Codespaces prebuild storage  7.939131326
2026-02  Codespaces storage  0.378277327
2026-03  Codespaces compute 2-core  0.29789
2026-03  Codespaces prebuild storage  14.665550297
2026-03  Codespaces storage  0.334466085
2026-04  Codespaces compute 2-core  1.09609
2026-04  Codespaces prebuild storage  14.510251098
2026-04  Codespaces storage  0.101495822
2026-05  Codespaces prebuild storage  15.000014309
2026-06  Codespaces prebuild storage  15.005227268
2026-07  Codespaces prebuild storage  15.000011207
2026-08  Codespaces prebuild storage  15.000011207
2026-09  Codespaces prebuild storage  15.000009143

== codespaces that still exist ==
no codespaces found

== repos with a prebuild config ==
hugmouse/dicks
hugmouse/balls