When attempting to load a Zenhub Workspace you may encounter the following error message: 



IMPORTANT - Start with these general troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue—these are the most common culprits of this error! If you’re still experiencing issues, there are a few other advanced troubleshooting steps that can be taken below. 



In this article

1. Reconnect to your VPN (only for users accessing Zenhub via a VPN).

2. Wifi settings use a dynamic IP (only for users with a dynamic IP).

3. Check that the rate limit has not been exceeded (400 Bad Request error).

4. Check for a WebSocket error.



1. Issues with connectivity and VPNing into your network

If you are using Zenhub Enterprise, or are accessing Zenhub through a VPN, try checking these three things to clear the error:

  • Reconnecting to your VPN connection. Sometimes you’ll see this error if there is a slow or weak connection.
  • Check with your IT team to ensure you have a valid SSL certificate installed in your browser. Some organizations require an org-specific certificate to be installed into a certified browser version officially supported through the organization.
  • Confirm with your IT team that any firewall in place isn’t blocking WebSockets from connecting. The Board requires WebSockets to keep information updated in real-time. Some VPN firewalls prevent WebSockets from passing.


2. Wifi settings use a dynamic IP

If you are using a dynamic IP, switch to a static IP. Zenhub uses WebSockets to load the Board—when your wifi settings are set to change the IP consistently, each IP change will cause a disconnection, causing the Board to error out. At the moment, we do not support dynamic evolving IP wifi settings. A refresh will re-load the Board without error as the connection gets re-established.


To permanently prevent this from happening, change these settings to a static IP to prevent intermittent Board errors from appearing.


3. Rate limit exceeded / 400 (Bad Request error)

A 400 (Bad Request) error means you’ve gone over the number of interactions that GitHub allows each user to perform across all integrated services (GitHub limits requests to 5000 per hour, across all your apps). These limits protect teams against abuse on the infrastructure of GitHub.


To check if you’ve exceeded the rate limit, open your web browser’s Console tab (instructions here) and look for errors containing: 'API rate limit exceeded for XXXXXX.'{"message":"Error response from GitHub API"}


Hitting a rate limit error means that Zenhub might experience some delays loading until the hour resets. A rate limit error can be triggered by multiple things:

  • Having a significant amount of information in your Board: for example, 50+ repos connected, hundreds of Epics, with thousands of Issues open. If this is the case and you are attempting to load the Velocity chart more than a few times within the same hour, it can trigger a rate limit error as the Velocity calls upon a large set of data to load.
  • You have a custom script running on any of your GitHub-integrated systems that is using the GitHub API heavily.
  • You have a significant number of GitHub-integrated systems that are each running and making a lot of calls to GitHub.

If you’re experiencing this error consistently, check if you have any GitHub-integrated apps you can disconnect, custom scripts that might not be operating effectively, or get in touch with us to have a chat about how to structure your Zenhub data.


4. WebSocket error

A WebSocket error means that your firewall settings might be too rigid, or are missing a WebSocket connection. To check if you’re experiencing a WebSocket error, open your web browser’s Console tab (instructions here) and look for errors containing WebSocket connection.



Start by checking if your firewall settings are preventing Zenhub from operating. If you’ve determined that firewall settings are not the cause, then the error is most likely due to a missing WebSocket connection. You’ll need a repo admin to reset the webhooks in GitHub. This can be done by the following the below steps:


To re-connect webhooks:

  1. Have the repo admin visit the Zenhub Board for the repository where you're experiencing the Issue. 
  2. Confirm that the webhooks have been re-establishing by going to the repo settings in GitHub.

3. You should see the Zenhub URL under the webhooks section



If you do not see this, and the admin of the repo has visited the Zenhub Board, get in touch by emailing [email protected]  and we can help reset your webhooks. 


Still having trouble? Get in touch

If you’ve tried the steps above and are still experiencing the issue, contact our support team at [email protected]. To help us resolve your inquiry as quickly as possible, please provide the following information:

  • Your web browser (Chrome or Firefox).
  • Are you using the extension or web app?
  • Is this an isolated issue, or are others in your GitHub organization experiencing it (if applicable)?
  • Have your GitHub permissions recently changed? Note: you made need to confirm this with your GitHub administrator.