macOS 26 (on Intel) is now available as a public beta in GitHub Actions

[erik-bershel]

Breaking changes

macOS-26 Tahoe based on Intel CPU is now available for all GitHub Actions.
You can use the macos-26-large image label in your YAML to select this image.

macOS-26 Apple Silicon

jobs:
  job:
    runs-on: macos-26-large

The image is marked as beta for now. It means some software can be unstable on the new platform. Also, there could be queueing issues as the capacity will be balanced only throughout the next weeks.

Target date

Now! 🎉

The motivation for the changes

The purpose of a Beta is to collect feedback on an image before it is released to GA. The goal of a Beta is to identify and fix any potential issues that exist on that image.

Possible impact

N/A

Software difference between macOS-15 and macOS-26

Tool name	macOS 15 (Intel)	macOS 26 (Intel)	Notes
Xcode	16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 (default) 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 (expected)	26.0 26.1 26.2 (default) 26.3	Base Xcode major release for macOS-26 is Xcode 26
Xcode CLT	16.*	26.*	Default Xcode changed to 26.0
Clang/LLVM (Xcode)	16.*	17.*	Default Xcode changed to 26.0
Clang/LLVM (Homebrew)	18.*	20.*	The most recent version is installed
Node.js (default)	22.*	24.*	The most recent version is installed
NPM	10.*	11.*	Version associated with Node.js 24 is installed
OpenSSL	1.1.*	3.*	The most recent version is installed
Ruby (default)	3.3.*	3.4.*	The most recent version is installed
Parallels	26.*	none	Tool was removed due to a maintenance concerns

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• Ubuntu Slim
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• macOS 26
• macOS 26 Arm64
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025
• Windows Server 2025 with Visual Studio 2026

Mitigation ways

Please report any problems with the new image to this repository.

[xavier2k6]

@erik-bershel Can you clarify the "available for all GitGub Action" comment. (as it's clearly not available to all)

Larger runners are only available for organizations and enterprises using the GitHub Team or GitHub Enterprise Cloud plans.

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/concepts/runners/larger-runners

Any "free user" will receive below message if they attempt to use macos-26-large image

The job was not started because recent account payments have failed or your spending limit needs to be increased. Please check the 'Billing & plans' section in your settings

It doesn't appear to be a replacement or an addition to macos-15-intel which "OSS Projects etc. can use"

[erik-bershel]

It doesn't appear to be a replacement or an addition to macos-15-intel which "OSS Projects etc. can use"

It's not a replacement for macos-15-intel. At least at the moment.