GitHub Remote Rejected Internal Server Error | How to Fix

The “remote rejected internal server error” on GitHub usually occurs when attempting to push local code to a remote repository and is generally linked to issues on GitHub’s servers or repository inconsistencies, not errors on your local machine.

The most common causes and solutions are summarized below:​

Common Causes

• GitHub service outage or server issue: Sometimes, GitHub experiences outages or degraded performance that cause this error. Checking GitHub’s status page is recommended during such times.​

• Pushing many refs at once: Attempting to push a repository with a large number of references (100+) may trigger this error due to backend server limitations.​

• Outdated local repository: If your local branch is not up-to-date with the remote, GitHub may reject your push and throw an internal server error.​

• Other backend issues or repository corruption: Occasionally, the repository on GitHub might have internal issues that only their support team can resolve.​

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How to Fix

1. Check GitHub’s Status

• GitHub Status Page: First, visit GitHub’s status page to see if there is any ongoing service disruption. Sometimes, GitHub experiences downtime or server issues that can affect pushing, pulling, or other operations.

2. Check Your Remote URL

• Make sure your remote URL is correct. You can check it using the following command:

  git remote -v


• If the URL looks incorrect or if you’re using HTTPS but have recently changed your authentication method, update the remote URL using:

  git remote set-url origin https://github.com/username/repository.git


3. Check for Authentication Issues

• If you’re using HTTPS, ensure your authentication is working fine (either with a personal access token if you’re using GitHub’s token-based authentication or your GitHub username/password for HTTPS).

• If you’re using SSH, make sure your SSH keys are correctly set up. You can check this by:

  ssh -T git@github.com


• This should return a success message if authentication is set up correctly.

4. Check Repository Permissions

• Make sure you have the appropriate permissions for the repository you are pushing to. If it’s a private repository, verify you have write access.

5. Try Pushing Again

• If there was a temporary issue with GitHub, retrying the push may work. You can do so with:

  git push origin branch-name


6. Network Issues

• Sometimes, local network configurations or firewalls can affect GitHub communication. Try pushing from a different network (or disabling firewalls/antivirus temporarily) to see if it resolves the issue.

7. GitHub API Rate Limits

• If you’re hitting GitHub’s API rate limits, this could affect interactions with GitHub. You can check your rate limit with:

  curl -I https://api.github.com


• If you’re approaching the limit, you might need to wait until the limit resets or use a GitHub OAuth token to increase your rate limit.

8. Temporary Issues on GitHub

• If everything looks good on your side, and GitHub’s status page doesn’t show any ongoing issues, it might just be a temporary issue with GitHub itself. In that case, waiting a few minutes and trying again often works.

9. Verbose Logging

• You can enable verbose output to get more details about the error by using:

  GIT_TRACE=1 GIT_CURL_VERBOSE=1 git push origin branch-name


This can provide more insight into what’s going wrong during the push process.