Entering a Issue Label Description longer than 101 characters throws an error.

[YanikKendler]

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Issue Description
When editing the description of issue labels there seems to be a limit of 101 characters for label descriptions on the backend. When trying to save a description that is more than 101 chars, the error Could not update label is shown. And the grapql ValidationError: GraphQL error: UNPROCESSABLE: Description is too long (maximum is 100 characters) (path: updateLabel) can be seen in the Network tab.

Expected Behaviour
Ignore inputs after the 100 char limit (like the name field already does) and optimally show a warning below the text area that the maximum length is about to be reached.

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to any Issue
2. Click Labels on the right hand side
3. Click Edit Labels
4. Select edit from the three dots next to any label
5. Enter a string longer than 101 characters in the Description field
6. Click Save changes
7. See Error

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• I have read the above statement and can confirm my post is relevant to the GitHub feature areas Issues and/or Projects.

[itzjackj]

Hi @YanikKendler,

This definitely looks like a validation mismatch between the Frontend (UI) and the Backend (GraphQL API). While the name field has an input mask/limit, the description field is currently allowing users to over-type, leading to that UNPROCESSABLE error.

Until the GitHub team implements a character counter or a maxlength attribute on that specific text area, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. The Technical Constraint
   The error you seeing in the Network tab:

GraphQL error: UNPROCESSABLE: Description is too long (maximum is 100 characters)

...confirms that the database schema or the API validation layer is strictly capped at 100 characters. Any input at 101 or above will trigger a rollback of the update command.

2. Immediate Workaround
   If you need to include more information than the 100-character limit allows, the current best practice is:

Keep descriptions high-level: Use the 100 characters for the "What" and "When" of the label.

Use a Documentation File: For complex labeling systems, link to a CONTRIBUTING.md or a LABELS.md file in your repository that explains the nuances of each tag in detail.

3. Suggested Internal Fix (for GitHub Staff)
   To align the behavior with the "Label Name" field, the UI should ideally:

Add maxlength="100" to the or <textarea> element for the description.

Provide a real-time character counter (e.g., 95/100) to prevent the "Save" click from ever failing.

I’ve upvoted this! It’s a valid DX (Developer Experience) improvement. Hopefully, a maintainer can triaged this as a UI bug soon.

[YanikKendler]

What is this?

Are you an AI?

[DeveloperVaibhav1]

This looks like a UI and backend validation mismatch. The backend clearly enforces a 100-character limit, but the UI still allows users to type beyond that, which results in the error when saving.

Ideally the description field should have a 100 character limit in the UI (like the label name field) and possibly show a character counter to prevent the request from failing.

Thanks for reporting this — improving the validation feedback here would definitely make the editing experience smoother.