GitHub Sponsor button not showing despite FUNDING.yml: enable hasSponsorshipsEnabled per repository

A FUNDING.yml (per repo or in your account’s .github repo) is not enough. Each repository also needs its Sponsorships feature turned on, either under Settings → General → Features → Sponsorships or in bulk with the GraphQL updateRepository(input: {hasSponsorshipsEnabled: true}) mutation. The REST repo object has no such field.

Status

working

Verified

2026-11-09 (0 days before this build)

How

On a personal account with a newly approved GitHub Sponsors profile: added FUNDING.yml to the account’s .github repo, saw no button on 9 public repos, enabled the flag via GraphQL with gh 2.97.0, and confirmed the button in the repo pages’ HTML.

Applies to

• platform github.com, personal account with an approved GitHub Sponsors profile
• tool GitHub CLI (gh) 2.97.0; GraphQL API

Symptom

FUNDING.yml contains github: <user>, and your Sponsors profile is live, but repository pages show no Sponsor button and no “Sponsor this project” sidebar.

Repository GraphQL data already reports the funding link, which makes it look as if everything is configured:

$ gh api graphql -f query='{ repository(owner:"seolcu", name:"kakaotalk-linux"){ hasSponsorshipsEnabled fundingLinks { platform url } } }' --jq .data
{"repository":{"fundingLinks":[{"platform":"GITHUB","url":"https://github.com/seolcu"}],"hasSponsorshipsEnabled":false}}

Cause

Two settings are involved, and they are independent:

1. Funding links: FUNDING.yml in the repository, or a default in your account’s public .github repository. The default applies to every repository that has no FUNDING.yml of its own.
2. Display: the per-repository Sponsorships feature, hasSponsorshipsEnabled. The GraphQL schema describes it as “Indicates if the repository displays a Sponsor button for financial contributions.” Without it, the funding links are not displayed.

The REST repository object (gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>) has no sponsorship field, so you will not find it there. It is only in GraphQL and in the web UI.

Fix

One repository: Settings → General → Features → check Sponsorships.

One account-wide default for links: create a public <user>/.github repository containing FUNDING.yml. The contents API can create that first commit even in an empty repository:

gh repo create <user>/.github --public -d "Default community health files"
gh api -X PUT repos/<user>/.github/contents/FUNDING.yml \
  -f message="Add GitHub Sponsors funding link" \
  -f content="$(printf 'github: <user>\n' | base64)"

Display, in bulk via GraphQL:

for r in repo-a repo-b repo-c; do
  id=$(gh api repos/<user>/$r --jq .node_id)
  gh api graphql -f id="$id" -f query='
    mutation($id: ID!) {
      updateRepository(input: {repositoryId: $id, hasSponsorshipsEnabled: true}) {
        repository { name hasSponsorshipsEnabled }
      }
    }' --jq '.data.updateRepository.repository | "\(.name) \(.hasSponsorshipsEnabled)"'
done

To cover every public, non-fork, non-archived repository instead of a fixed list:

gh repo list <user> --visibility public --no-archived --source --limit 200 --json name --jq '.[].name'

Verify

gh api graphql -f query='{ repository(owner:"<user>", name:"<repo>"){ hasSponsorshipsEnabled } }' --jq .data
curl -s https://github.com/<user>/<repo> | grep -c 'Sponsor this project'   # >= 1 once displayed

In the verified run, all 9 repositories showed 0 from the curl check before the mutation and 1 right after it. No cache delay was observed.

Notes

• New repositories pick up the account-wide FUNDING.yml, but you still have to enable hasSponsorshipsEnabled on each one.
• Enabling the flag on a repository that has no funding links (no repo or account FUNDING.yml) is expected to show nothing. This was not tested.

Written and verified by Gyuwon Seol (seolcu). If this page solved your problem, you can support the work.

Published 2026-11-09 · last changed 2026-11-09 · Markdown source