Build Server Plugin Fails when Creating a Release within a Project that is using Configuration-as-Code with Octopus Deploy GitHub App Authentication

[briggs-octo]

Severity

Several Reports (Internal & External)

Version

2025.3.11011

Latest Version

None

What happened?

When creating a release within a Project (using Configuration-as-Code that relies on the Octopus Deploy GitHub App for authentication) via Octopus Deploy build server plugins that are using the .NET version of the Octopus CLI (octo.exe), an error is thrown and no release is created:

...
[Cloud Create Release] $ C:\Octopus\CLI\Octo.exe create-release --version 0.0.1 --gitRef refs/heads/main --project "IIS CaC Example" --server https://example.octopus.app --apiKey ******** --space Spaces-422 --ignoreSslErrors
Octopus CLI, version 9.1.7
...
Unable to process response from server: Requested value 'GitHub' was not found..
...
Error from Octopus Server (HTTP 200 OK)
Exit code: -7
INFO: Octopus CLI exit code: -7
ERROR: Unable to create or deploy release. Please check the build log for details on the error.
ERROR: Step ‘Octopus Deploy: Create Release’ failed: Failed to create release
Finished: FAILURE

Reproduction

1. Create a Project that is using Configuration-as-Code with Octopus Deploy GitHub App authentication
2. Configure a build pipeline that creates a release within the Project using the built-in build server plugin (i.e., Jenkins)
3. Run the pipeline and note the error that is generated in the build server output

Error and Stacktrace

Build server log that is generated when reproducing this issue:

Started by user OctoAdmin
Running as SYSTEM
Building in workspace C:\ProgramData\Jenkins\.jenkins\workspace\Cloud Create Release
INFO: Started Octopus Release
INFO: =======================
INFO: Project: IIS CaC Example
INFO: Release Version: 0.0.1
INFO: Include Release Notes?: false
INFO: Deploy this Release?: false
INFO: Package Configurations: none
INFO: =======================
[Cloud Create Release] $ C:\Octopus\CLI\Octo.exe create-release --version 0.0.1 --gitRef refs/heads/main --project "IIS CaC Example" --server https://example.octopus.app --apiKey ******** --space Spaces-422 --ignoreSslErrors
Octopus CLI, version 9.1.7
Detected automation environment: "Jenkins"
Found space: Example (Spaces-422)
Space name specified, process is now running in the context of space: Example
Handshaking with Octopus Server: https://example.octopus.app
Handshake successful. Octopus version: 2025.3.11011; API version: 3.0.0
Authenticated as: <REDACTED>
Found environments: 
This Octopus Server supports channels
Unable to process response from server: Requested value 'GitHub' was not found.. Response content: {
  "ItemType": "Project",
  "TotalResults": 1,
  "ItemsPerPage": 30,
  "NumberOfPages": 1,
  "LastPageNumber": 0,
  "Items": [
    {
      "Id": "Projects-1966",
      "SpaceId": "Spaces-422",
      "VariableSetId": "variableset-Projects-1966",
      "DeploymentProcessId": "deploymentprocess-Projects-1966",
      "ClonedFromProjectId": null,
      "DiscreteChannelRelease": false,
      "IncludedLibraryVariableSetIds": [],
      "DefaultToSkipIfAlreadyInstalled": false,
      "TenantedDeploymentMode": "Untenanted",
      "DefaultGuidedFailureMode": "EnvironmentDefault",
      "VersioningStrategy": null,
      "ReleaseCreationStrategy": {
        "ChannelId": null,
        "ReleaseCreationPackage": null,
        "ReleaseCreationPackageStepId": null
      },
      "Templates": [],
      "AutoDeployReleaseOverrides": [],
      "ReleaseNotesTemplate": null,
      "DeploymentChangesTemplate": null,
      "ForcePackageDownload": false,
      "Icon": null,
      "AllowIgnoreChannelRules": tru
Error from Octopus Server (HTTP 200 OK)
Exit code: -7
INFO: Octopus CLI exit code: -7
ERROR: Unable to create or deploy release. Please check the build log for details on the error.
ERROR: Step ‘Octopus Deploy: Create Release’ failed: Failed to create release
Finished: FAILURE

More Information

Reported Tickets:

• https://octopus.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/249125

Internal Thread:

• https://octopusdeploy.slack.com/archives/C06GM0962RH/p1726020189257949

Also reported here:

• https://github.com/OctopusDeploy/octopus-jenkins-plugin/issues/160

While this issue was reported in relation to Jenkins, this could also impact other build servers that use an Octopus Deploy plugin that relies on the deprecated .NET CLI (e.g., TeamCity).

Workaround

Configure a custom script for creating releases that leverages the newer Go Octopus CLI to run within the build pipeline rather than relying on the pre-built function provided by the plugin.