Clarification Needed: Ubuntu Slim Runner Status - Preview vs Generally Available?

[andreasfranz]

Why are you starting this discussion?

Question

What GitHub Actions topic or product is this about?

Actions Runner

Discussion Details

I'm confused about the current status of the ubuntu-slim runner and would appreciate clarification from the GitHub team.

According to the actions/runner-images repository README, the Ubuntu Slim image is marked as Preview:

Image	Architecture	YAML Label	Included Software
Ubuntu Slim	x64	ubuntu-slim	[ubuntu-slim]

However, the GitHub Blog changelog from January 22, 2026 announces:

"1 vCPU Linux runner now generally available in GitHub Actions"

The blog post states that the 1 vCPU Linux runner (which uses the ubuntu-slim label) is now Generally Available (GA).

Questions:

1. What is the actual current status of ubuntu-slim - is it still in Preview or is it GA?
2. If it's GA, shouldn't the runner-images documentation be updated to remove the "preview" badge and reflect the GA status per the GA criteria?
3. Is there a discrepancy between the documentation and the actual product status, and if so, which source should users rely on?

This matters for planning purposes since preview images don't fall under the GitHub Actions SLA, while GA images do.

Thank you for clarifying!

[supervoidcoder]

yes it is you chatgpt clanker reply bot

[supervoidcoder]

The repo you linked might just have not been updated yet. The ubuntu-slim image DOES show up here and I saw another recent thing where they said it was available for use in private repos as well.

Either way, the best way to test it is by making a workflow with it yourself. If it runs, it exists! If not, then it doesn't.

[github-actions[bot]]

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