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Last updated · 9 September 2026

SchemaTrace

Breaking changes, enforcement dates and migration requirements.

ST-2026-096 · Authentication & identity

GitHub Actions OIDC adopts immutable owner and repository IDs in subject claims

GitHub.com now appends immutable owner and repository IDs to default Actions OIDC subject claims for new repositories and post-15 July renames or transfers; existing repositories change only when opted in.

GitHubGitHub ActionsOIDCauthenticationsubject claimslifecycle

Previous state

Before the immutable-ID format, the default GitHub Actions OIDC subject claim identified the owner and repository only by mutable names, so a recycled organization or repository name could reproduce a previously trusted subject string.

Current state

On GitHub.com, the default Actions OIDC subject claim appends immutable owner and repository IDs with an @ delimiter. Repositories created after 15 July 2026 and repositories renamed or transferred after that date adopt the format automatically; existing repositories are unchanged unless explicitly opted in.

Who needs to care

GitHub.com organizations and repositories whose Actions workflows obtain OIDC tokens for cloud-provider access, especially trust policies that match the default sub claim and repositories that are newly created, renamed, transferred, or deliberately opted in.

What to do

Preview the immutable subject-claim prefix in the repository or organization OIDC settings UI or API, update the corresponding AWS, Azure, GCP, or other identity-provider trust policy to match the owner@ID/repository@ID format, and verify token exchange before opting in or completing a rename or transfer.

What the source does not prove

GitHub's change applies to GitHub.com and does not affect GitHub Enterprise Server. Existing repositories retain the name-only default unless explicitly opted in. GitHub's 10 June 2026 editor note changed the documented delimiter from a hyphen to @; this record uses the revised @ format and does not infer any GHES rollout.

Lifecycle history

Dated event sequence

  1. Opt-in and preview became available

    GitHub announced the immutable-ID subject format and made organization- and repository-level opt-in plus a preview endpoint available for existing repositories.

  2. Delimiter documentation corrected

    GitHub revised the subject format to use @ between each mutable name and immutable ID instead of the previously documented hyphen.

  3. Automatic adoption began

    Repositories created after this date and repositories renamed or transferred after this date automatically use the immutable-ID default subject format.

Evidence ledger

First-party sources

  1. 01
    GitHub — Immutable subject claims for GitHub Actions OIDC tokens

    Official GitHub Changelog · 2026-04-23

    Open official source ↗