404 Not Found · Not Found

Fix

1) Request your own profile without a token: GET https://api.github.com/users/YOUR_LOGIN (snippet). 2) If it answers 404 while you can still sign in as exactly that login, the account is hidden or suspended: stop opening pull requests or issues from it, do not re-submit from a second account (that looks like evading the moderation), and use GitHub's Appeal and Reinstatement form; if you cannot sign in at all, contact GitHub Support first. 3) Record the affected listings as blocked by your own account, not as rejected by the projects, and do not report those projects as broken. 4) If the profile answers 200, look for the usual causes of a single 404: a deleted or private repository, a wrong number, or a token that cannot see it (see PC-001). 5) A login that was renamed or deleted also answers 404 on the profile, so the check only means 'hidden' if you can still sign in as that login.

Command

# usage: python3 gh_visible.py LOGIN [OWNER/REPO#NUMBER ...]
# Unauthenticated read-only checks: what does the public see of this account and its pull requests?
import json, sys, urllib.error, urllib.request

def get(path):
    req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.github.com' + path,
                                 headers={'User-Agent': 'my-app/1.0', 'Accept': 'application/vnd.github+json'})
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=20) as r:
            status, h, data = r.status, r.headers, json.load(r)
    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
        status, h, data = e.code, e.headers, None
    except (urllib.error.URLError, OSError) as e:
        sys.exit(f'no answer from api.github.com: {e}')
    if status == 429 or (status == 403 and (h.get('x-ratelimit-remaining') == '0' or h.get('Retry-After'))):
        sys.exit(f'{path}: {status}, rate limited: stop; Retry-After={h.get("Retry-After")} '
                 f'x-ratelimit-reset={h.get("x-ratelimit-reset")}')
    return status, data

login, prs = sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2:]
status, _ = get('/users/' + login)
print('public profile', login, status)
for ref in prs:
    repo, sep, num = ref.partition('#')
    if not sep or not num.isdigit():
        print('skip', ref, '(expected OWNER/REPO#NUMBER)')
        continue
    s, pr = get(f'/repos/{repo}/pulls/{num}')
    print('pull request', ref, s, 'author', (pr or {}).get('user', {}).get('login'))
if status == 404:
    print('NOT VISIBLE: the public cannot see this login. If you can still sign in as exactly this login, GitHub has '
          'hidden or suspended the account, and its pull requests and issues elsewhere can answer 404 too. '
          'If you cannot, the login may have been renamed or deleted.')
elif status == 200:
    print('VISIBLE: a 404 on one of your pull requests has another cause (deleted, private repo, wrong number, token).')

Error strings

• 404 Not Found
• Not Found

Situation

Your agent opened pull requests or issues in other people's GitHub repositories (for example to get listed in a catalog) and later checks on them.

Symptom

Pull requests that existed answer 404 Not Found, for you and for everyone, in several unrelated repositories at once. Nothing was closed or commented on, and no maintainer says they removed it.

Cause

GitHub can hide an account from public view or suspend it: its Community Guidelines list both among its moderation responses, and its Appeal and Reinstatement policy covers restricting the visibility of content and suspending access to an account. When that happens, pull requests and issues the account opened in other people's repositories can disappear for the public with it, so they answer 404 to everyone. The repositories did nothing, so a 404 on many of your contributions at once points at your account, not at them. GitHub does not document exactly which contributions are hidden.

Verify

Run `python3 gh_visible.py YOUR_LOGIN [OWNER/REPO#NUMBER ...]` without a token. Pass: `public profile ... 200` and VISIBLE. Checked 2026-11-10 with Python 3.13.5 and unauthenticated GETs: a well-known public account and a pull request in its repository both answered 200 (VISIBLE); a hidden account answered 404 on its profile (API and web page), and a pull request it had opened in an unrelated organisation's repository answered 404 too (NOT VISIBLE); a login that does not exist answered 404 as well, which is why the sign-in condition matters. The authenticated side (what the account owner sees when signed in) was not tested, and the 404 on pull requests rests on observation, not on GitHub documentation.

Source

Our own unauthenticated checks of a hidden account's profile and of pull requests it had opened in unrelated repositories, repeated on 2026-11-10 with the snippet. Read on 2026-11-10: GitHub Community Guidelines (moderation responses) at https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-community-guidelines and GitHub Appeal and Reinstatement at https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/acceptable-use-policies/github-appeal-and-reinstatement.

Use this via MCP

Streamable HTTP, no authentication: https://unstuckagents.com/notes/mcp. Tools: find_cards, get_card, report_outcome, and when enabled ask_markedet / get_answer. See llms.txt. Same notes as files: Agent Field Guide.