Documented GitHub Actions step logs endpoint consistently returns 404 #7405

1_Set up job.txt
2_Checkout failed commit.txt
3_Display Workflow Information.txt
4_Setup Node.js.txt
5_Install Dependencies.txt
6_Retrieve Failed Step Logs.txt
12_Post Checkout failed commit.txt
13_Complete job.txt
system.txt

Description

The GitHub REST API endpoint for downloading individual workflow step logs consistently returns 404 Not Found, even for completed workflow jobs with valid job IDs and step numbers.

The corresponding job-level logs endpoint works successfully for the same jobs.

Affected endpoint

GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/jobs/{job_id}/steps/{step_number}/logs

Expected behaviour

According to the REST API documentation, this endpoint should return 302 Found and redirect to a downloadable log file for the specified step.

Actual behaviour

The endpoint consistently returns:

404 Not Found

Verification

I tested the following:

• Confirmed the job exists using the workflow jobs API.

• Confirmed the requested step number matches the number field returned in the job's steps array.

• Tested after the workflow job had completed.

• Tested using Octokit REST.js and an independent REST API client.

• Tested API versions 2026-03-10 and 2022-11-28.

• Verified that the job-level logs endpoint returns 200 OK and successfully downloads the complete logs.

Independent reproduction

Another developer independently reproduced the same behaviour using a public repository, including testing multiple step numbers and both API versions.

Community discussion: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/211923

Related endpoints

GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/jobs/{job_id} | 200


GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/jobs/{job_id}/logs | 200


GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/jobs/{job_id}/steps/{step_number}/logs | 404

Questions

1. Is this endpoint currently operational?

2. Is individual step-log retrieval supported for completed workflow jobs?

3. Is this a known backend limitation or defect?

The workflow-run logs ZIP currently provides a workaround for retrieving individual step logs.

Thank you for investigating.