I receive "You have used 100% of the Codespaces storage" but I haven't used codespaces this month!

[mixxr]

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Question

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This month and last month I received the typical email from Github saying "You have used 100% of the Codespaces storage", but I haven't used codespaces in the last 4 weeks or more. Why is this happening? how can I check my codespace's sessions (to monitor when it was used)?

[sandeep-2607]

Codespaces storage is billed for as long as a codespace exists, not only while you're using it. A stopped codespace still sits on disk and keeps using up your included storage.

From the Codespaces billing docs (https://docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-codespaces): storage is "a time-based measurement of the amount of storage used in GB-hours", counted while the codespace exists. GitHub Free includes 15 GB-month (Pro gets 20), and it resets at the start of each billing cycle.

A basic 2-core codespace has a 32 GB disk, so one stopped codespace left around for about two weeks uses the whole 15 GB-month. That would explain the warning two months in a row without you opening anything.

To check and fix it:

1. Open https://github.com/codespaces. It lists every codespace you still have, including stopped ones, with the repository each belongs to.
2. Delete the ones you don't need (... menu → Delete). Push anything you want to keep first, because uncommitted changes are lost when a codespace is deleted. Or from the CLI:

gh codespace list
gh codespace delete -c <codespace-name>

3. If you ever set up prebuilds for a repo, check those too. They also count toward storage.
4. To stop this happening again, lower Settings → Codespaces → Default retention period to a few days, so stopped codespaces are deleted automatically (https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/setting-your-user-preferences/configuring-automatic-deletion-of-your-codespaces). As far as I can tell, each codespace keeps the retention period it was created with, so delete the old ones by hand.

Deleting stops further storage from building up. Storage already used in this cycle still counts until the cycle resets.

[hasheramin5-cyber]

Codespaces storage is charged while a Codespace exists, even if it is stopped or unused. An old stopped Codespace, or a Codespace prebuild, can consume your included storage for the whole billing cycle.

Check your existing Codespaces at https://github.com/codespaces and your usage at https://github.com/settings/billing. You can also run gh codespace list to see current Codespaces. Delete Codespaces you no longer need; stopped Codespaces still incur storage until deleted.