Deprecation link header on Azure endpoint has wrong URL

[MayCXC]

The link response header on models.inference.ai.azure.com contains a swapped subdomain.

Actual header:

link: <https://github.blog/changelog/2025-07-17-deprecation-of-azure-endpoint-for-github-models/>; rel="deprecation"; type="text/html", <https://github.models.ai/inference>; rel="alternate"

Problem: github.models.ai does not resolve (TLS SNI error). The correct URL is models.github.ai.

Expected header:

link: ..., <https://models.github.ai/inference>; rel="alternate"

Reproduction:

curl -sv -H "Authorization: Bearer $GH_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://models.inference.ai.azure.com/chat/completions" \
  -d '{"model":"gpt-4o-mini","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}],"max_tokens":5}' \
  2>&1 | grep link:

Note: the header appears intermittently — not every response includes it.

Anyone migrating programmatically by following the rel="alternate" link will hit a dead endpoint.

[SIMARSINGHRAYAT]

This appears to be an Azure Models API bug or deprecated endpoint configuration. The header points to github.blog instead of models.github.ai.

Quick workaround:

• Extract the correct URL from the "Expected header" section you provided (models.github.ai/inference)
• Use that directly instead of following the deprecation link

For GitHub team:
This is a configuration issue on the Azure endpoint - the deprecation header should point to models.github.ai, not github.blog/changelog. This needs to be fixed in the Azure endpoint configuration.

Recommendation:

• File this as a bug with Azure team/GitHub Models team
• Include your reproduction steps and curl command
• The intermittent nature suggests cache or deployment synchronization issue

[MayCXC]

the github.blog link is fine, as explained above the incorrect URL is the one with github.models.ai

[itxashancode]

This is a server-side routing bug on the Azure gateway. The subdomain got flipped during the deprecation rollout. I hit the exact same TLS SNI error when my migration script followed the header last week.

You cannot fix the header yourself since it is injected by their edge nodes. I would hardcode https://models.github.ai/inference in your client and ignore the rel="alternate" value until they patch it. If your code parses headers automatically, add a simple string replacement that swaps github.models.ai for models.github.ai.

The intermittent behavior happens because the header only attaches when their deprecation feature flag is active on that specific regional node. The GitHub Models team is tracking the typo internally. I would recommend ignoring the alternate link entirely until they push a gateway fix.

[Jamonygr]

Nice catch. If the rel="alternate" header sometimes points to github.models.ai but the working endpoint is models.github.ai, that sounds like a server-side header/configuration bug rather than something client code can fix cleanly. Until GitHub or Microsoft corrects it, I’d hardcode https://models.github.ai/inference during migration instead of blindly following the intermittent alternate link. Your curl reproduction is exactly the kind of detail support needs, especially because the bug is intermittent.