How to fix fatal: remote error: internal server error in Git

Before troubleshooting locally, verify whether the platform is experiencing an outage:

GitHub: https://www.githubstatus.com/
GitLab: https://status.gitlab.com/
Bitbucket: https://bitbucket.status.atlassian.com/

If there's an active incident, wait for the platform to resolve it. Many 500 errors are temporary service disruptions that resolve within minutes.

If the status page shows no issues, try waiting 5-10 minutes and retry your command:

git push origin main

Many internal server errors are transient and resolve on their own as the server recovers from temporary load or completes background operations.

If you're pushing large amounts of data, increase Git's HTTP post buffer to handle larger payloads:

git config http.postBuffer 524288000

This sets the buffer to 500MB (524,288,000 bytes). For persistent changes across all repositories:

git config --global http.postBuffer 524288000

Then retry your push operation.

If you're using git push --all or git push --mirror, try pushing branches one at a time:

git push origin main
git push origin develop
git push origin feature-branch

This can reveal if a specific branch violates repository rules or contains problematic files. GitHub has limits on the number of refs that can be pushed simultaneously.

SSH connections may provide better error messages or avoid HTTP-specific issues:

# Check your current remote URL
git remote -v

# Switch to SSH (replace with your repository)
git remote set-url origin [email protected]:username/repository.git

# Retry your operation
git push origin main

SSH can also bypass proxy issues that might be contributing to HTTP 500 errors.

If you're pushing files larger than 2GB (GitHub's limit) or your platform's size limit, you'll need to exclude them:

# Find large files in your repository
find . -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} ;

# Add them to .gitignore
echo "large-file.zip" >> .gitignore

# Remove from Git history if already committed
git rm --cached large-file.zip
git commit -m "Remove large file"
git push origin main

Consider using Git LFS for large binary files instead.

If the error persists for several hours and the status page shows no incidents:

1. GitHub: Open a support ticket at https://support.github.com/
2. GitLab: Report the issue at https://about.gitlab.com/support/
3. Bitbucket: Contact Atlassian support at https://support.atlassian.com/

Provide:
- The full error message
- The exact Git command that failed
- Your repository URL (if public) or repository ID
- Timestamps of when the errors occurred
- Whether other repositories on the same account are affected