Best practice to avoid expiring attachment URLs?

[channel101]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

Body

As seen in this line from the community repo, it looks like even GitHub itself can't avoid the issue of attachment URLs expiring.

Given this, what is the recommended best practice for keeping embedded attachments permanent?

[channel101]

Thanks for your answer:)

[roshangowdas]

Hi,

Good observation — yes, this is a known limitation, not just something happening in that one repo.

Here’s the short version of what’s going on:

• When you upload an image directly into a GitHub issue, pull request, or comment (using drag-and-drop or paste), GitHub creates a user-attachments/assets/... URL.
• If the image remains embedded in an issue, PR, or comment, it usually stays available long-term.
• If the image is not referenced anywhere (an orphaned attachment) for about 30 days, GitHub may delete it.
• There is currently no setting to make these uploads permanent, and users cannot manage or delete them directly. If you need one removed, you would have to contact GitHub Support.

If you want the image to stay available permanently, use one of these options instead:

Best option: Commit the image into a repository and use the raw GitHub URL:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/username/repo/branch/path/to/image.png

This stores the image as part of the repository and its history, so it will not expire.

Alternative: Host the image externally (for example, Imgur, Cloudinary, Amazon S3, or your own server) and use that URL.

I would avoid relying on user-attachments/assets URLs for anything important or permanent, since that upload system is intended mainly for attachments in GitHub discussions and comments rather than long-term image hosting.

[channel101]

Thanks for your answer:)