Ghostty is leaving GitHub
Mitchell Hashimoto, creator of Ghostty and a prominent open-source figure, announces Ghostty's departure from GitHub due to chronic unreliability and perceived platform degradation. This move resonates deeply within the developer community, fueling a widespread discussion about GitHub's future under Microsoft, the impact of AI, and the urgent need for stable, developer-centric alternatives. The story highlights the emotional toll of a beloved tool's decline and the quest for reliable infrastructure in an increasingly fragmented ecosystem.
The Lowdown
Mitchell Hashimoto, the highly regarded creator of Ghostty terminal and HashiCorp co-founder, has announced that his personal project, Ghostty, will be leaving GitHub. This decision marks a poignant moment for Hashimoto, who describes GitHub as a cornerstone of his 18-year open-source journey, a place he deeply cherished.
- Hashimoto's connection to GitHub was profoundly personal, intertwining his hobbies, work, and passions, even through significant life events.
- His breaking point came from GitHub's persistent and escalating outages, which have severely impacted his ability to work, with 'almost every day' in the past month marked by disruptions.
- He clarifies that the issue isn't Git itself, but the surrounding infrastructure like issues, pull requests, and Actions, which have become unreliable.
- Ghostty's team has a plan for incrementally migrating to a new platform (commercial and FOSS options are being considered) and will maintain a read-only mirror on GitHub.
- While Ghostty will move, Hashimoto's personal projects will remain on GitHub for the time being.
Hashimoto expresses profound sadness and a sense of betrayal, articulating a common developer sentiment that GitHub no longer facilitates productivity as it once did. His departure, though emotionally difficult, underscores a growing dissatisfaction with the platform's current state.
The Gossip
Daily Downtime: The Unreliable Reign of GitHub
The primary catalyst for Ghostty's departure is GitHub's pervasive unreliability. Commenters corroborate Hashimoto's experience of daily outages and performance issues, citing unofficial status pages and personal anecdotes. This consistent disruption to workflow leads many to question GitHub's suitability as critical infrastructure for serious development.
Heartfelt Hues of HashiCorp's Hurt
Many users resonate deeply with Mitchell Hashimoto's emotional farewell to GitHub, recognizing his unique 18-year connection. They affirm that such a foundational platform can evoke strong personal feelings, dismissing any notion that being 'dramatic' about a SaaS is unwarranted when it represents a significant part of one's career and passion.
Forge Forward: The Quest for New Code Havens
The discussion quickly shifts to the pressing question of where projects should migrate. Users propose various alternatives like GitLab, Codeberg, SourceHut, self-hosted Forgejo, and promising decentralized platforms like Tangled. There's a shared concern about community fragmentation and the challenge of finding a platform that offers comparable features and ease of collaboration without centralizing power.
Microsoft's Shadow: Culture, Copilot, and Critiques
A central point of contention is Microsoft's ownership. Many commenters believe the acquisition irrevocably changed GitHub, leading to a decline in quality, a shift in priorities (e.g., to Copilot over core stability), and the integration of Microsoft's corporate engineering culture. This narrative often invokes the 'Embrace, Extend, Extinguish' model, viewing current issues as an inevitable outcome.