What changed
GitHub reached the retirement date for the Spark experience on github.com. Existing deployed apps continue to run, but the Spark workbench is no longer the supported editing path; GitHub had already retired the bundled GitHub Models inference service on 30 July.
Why it matters
A deployed Spark app can appear healthy while its editing surface and any `llm()` calls have separately stopped working, leaving code ownership, inference credentials, billing and maintenance unresolved.
What to do
Confirm every Spark app has an exported repository, search it for `llm()` calls, attach a replacement provider with scoped credentials and spend limits, run the app outside Spark, and document build, deploy and rollback ownership.
Caveat
GitHub announced the retirement on 4 August and says already deployed apps continue to run. The notice does not specify indefinite hosting, export guarantees after the deadline, successor parity or migration support for every app.