When reconciling GitHub Code Quality licenses with an internal register, a headcount alone cannot explain discrepancies. You need to connect each person to the repositories that make them count toward license usage.

The CSV download introduced on October 15, 2026 makes those details available for analysis. But counting CSV rows does not automatically reconcile your bill.

Understanding the counting unit and time window lets you use the report for two distinct tasks: checking current usage and planning changes for the next billing period.

Count people across repositories, not repository memberships

Code Quality has its own license. Active committers to repositories with Code Quality enabled consume licenses, with each person counted once across the organization or enterprise even if they contribute to multiple repositories or organizations. The official billing specification defines this counting scope.

A committer is active when one of their commits has been pushed to a repository within the past 90 days, regardless of when the commit was originally authored. An internal register containing only people who worked this month therefore uses a different time window.

The CSV, however, can contain multiple rows for one person because it preserves their repository relationships. The report reference explicitly warns against using row count as license count.

The report also shows current active committers, not every license billed during a billing period. A current headcount is therefore not guaranteed to match the entire period’s bill.

Download the CSV and map users to repositories

CSV downloads are available on GitHub Team and GitHub Enterprise Cloud. Open your organization or enterprise’s Billing and licensing page, select Licensing, and download the report from the Code Quality card.

Enterprise owners, organization owners, and billing managers can download reports. Code Quality reports download directly to the browser. The official download instructions describe these permissions and delivery behavior.

The Code Quality CSV reference defines these fields:

Field	Meaning
User login	GitHub username
Organization / repository	Repository owner and name contributing to license usage
Last pushed date	Recorded push date in YYYY-MM-DD format, or - when unknown
Last pushed email	The user’s Git author email address

For reconciliation, first align the organization or enterprise scope, then count distinct User login values. Trace users who differ from your internal register back to their repositories and dates to investigate discrepancies hidden by the total.

A date of - means unknown, not inactive. Preserve that distinction when interpreting missing dates.

Identify licenses that disabling a repository could release

To evaluate a repository for disabling Code Quality, look for committers who contribute only to that repository or organization. GitHub calls these “unique committers.”

Consider a hypothetical organization with just two enabled repositories, A and B. Within the past 90 days, commits by user X have been pushed to both, while commits by user Y have been pushed only to A. This is an illustration of the counting rules, not observed usage data. The relationships occupy three rows—X–A, X–B, and Y–A—but represent two license users.

Disabling A leaves X consuming a license through B. Assuming no other activity or configuration changes, Y’s single license is the candidate for release in the next billing period. A repository’s contributor count is therefore not automatically its potential license reduction.

Disabling Code Quality does not reduce the current period’s license charge. The billing explanation of unique committers places the release in the next billing period. Evaluate the value of continued quality checks alongside each user’s contributions to other enabled repositories.

Include Actions and AI usage when reviewing total costs

License relationships explain only part of Code Quality’s costs. GitHub Actions minutes and GitHub AI Credits also contribute, and AI Credits come from a pool shared with other AI products. The cost management guide explains where to inspect each component.

Use the billing usage report to attribute spending to repositories or organizations. To inspect Code Quality’s AI Credits usage, group the AI usage page by product. The new license CSV addresses the narrower question of who consumes a license.

Disabling Code Quality stops that repository’s scans and AI usage immediately, while leaving the current period’s license charge unchanged. These outcomes coexist because the cost components respond differently to the change.

Start reconciliation by aligning the definition of a license user, the reporting scope, and the snapshot date. You can then use the CSV to identify licenses worth reviewing for the next period and separate usage reports to track execution and AI costs. That turns a discrepancy in a total into a decision about what to change and when its effect should appear.

Source

• Title: Download GitHub Code Quality license usage as a CSV
• URL: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-10-15-download-github-code-quality-license-usage-as-a-csv