- OpenAI explores internal code platform after GitHub outages disrupt workflows
- GitHub’s Azure Migration Caused Configuration Issues and Intermittent Downtime for Engineers
- Teams have been unable to ship code for hours during recent outages
OpenAI is reportedly developing an internal code repository platform after frequent GitHub outages disrupted its engineers’ coding operations.
The effort appears to be a direct response to the current migration of GitHub infrastructure to Microsoft Azure, which has introduced configuration issues and intermittent downtime.
Multiple outages in recent months have left teams unable to ship code for hours at a time, raising concerns about the reliability of AI-powered development workflows.
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Growing outages and reliability concerns
A mid-year report from GitProtect indicated a 58% year-over-year increase in incidents during 2025, with 17 classified as major, resulting in more than 100 hours of outage.
The current migration has placed GitHub in a split-traffic state, with parts of its services still operating from its legacy Virginia data center, while other services have been moved to Azure.
A four-hour outage in early February 2026 was attributed to an Azure issue, and another week-long outage was linked to a configuration change, which GitHub publicly acknowledged as “not yet meeting our expectations.”
These disruptions reportedly motivated OpenAI to explore a more controlled environment for its internal development and AI integration.
Employees familiar with the project said the platform could eventually be offered commercially, potentially bundled with Codex coding agents, although it may remain exclusive to OpenAI.
Developing internal code repositories is common practice among large technology companies, and Google operates Piper and Meta using Sapling, but neither have been commercialized.
The OpenAI project, if made available to external customers, would represent a rare case of a company competing directly with a major investor.
Microsoft owns about 27% of OpenAI and acquired GitHub in 2018 for $7.5 billion.
OpenAI has already introduced ChatGPT features that overlap with Microsoft Office apps, suggesting broader strategic friction.
The move reflects broader concerns about the resilience of coding platforms under the increasing pressure of AI-driven workloads.
Massive builds of AI data centers are squeezing power supply and the efficiency of internal collaboration tools is becoming more critical.
The planned platform may use advanced networking technologies, such as Ultra Ethernet, to improve data movement across AI infrastructure and reduce reliance on third-party platforms.
Engineers have reportedly experimented with laptop computers for programming tasks within this environment, integrating jitter coding tools to maintain workflow continuity despite external service interruptions.
OpenAI has not publicly confirmed the project, but the initiative reveals the tension between platform reliability and the growing demands of AI-driven development.
The platform is still in early development and it could be months before any operational implementation.
Through Tom Hardware
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