Issues UI shows generic “Unable to create issue” instead of clear “Issues have been disabled” message

[gaureshpai]

Select Topic Area

Bug

Feature Area

Issues

Body

When Issues are disabled for a repository, the <repo>/issues UI still lets you open the “New issue” form, but submitting it fails with a generic “Error – Unable to create issue.” The UI does not surface the more helpful GraphQL error message from the backend, which clearly states that Issues are disabled for this repository.

Steps to reproduce

1. In a test repository, go to Settings -> Features and uncheck Issues to disable Issues for the repo.
2. While logged in with an account that has at least write access, navigate to https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/issues.
3. Click New issue to open the issue creation page.
4. Fill in the title and body and submit the form.
5. In the browser dev tools Network tab, inspect the GraphQL createIssue mutation response.

Actual behavior

• The web UI shows only:
  • Error: Unable to create issue.
  • The GraphQL API response for the createIssue mutation is more specific, for example:

  {
    "data": {
      "createIssue": null
    },
    "errors": [
      {
        "type": "FORBIDDEN",
        "path": ["createIssue"],
        "locations": [{ "line": 5, "column": 3 }],
        "message": "Issues has been disabled in this repository."
      }
    ],
    "extensions": {
      "query_owning_catalog_service": "issues"
    }
  }

Expected behavior

• The UI should display a clear, user-friendly message based on the GraphQL error, e.g.: “Issues are disabled for this repository.”
• Optionally, for users with admin access, the UI could: Provide a hint or link to re-enable Issues in Settings → Features → Issues.
• Alternatively, when Issues are disabled, the repo should not present a functional “New issue” form at all, or should block navigation to /issues/new with an explanation.

Why this matters

• The generic “Unable to create issue” looks like a random failure and does not tell maintainers what is wrong or how to fix it.
• The backend already returns a precise explanation via GraphQL, but the UI hides that context; surfacing it would significantly improve the developer experience and reduce confusion.

Environment

• GitHub.com web UI
• Browser: any
• Account role in the repository: [owner / maintainer / collaborator]

Guidelines

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

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[gaureshpai]

PS: Another UI Related Bug not resolved yet https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/165732