diff --git a/.changeset/new-pigs-live.md b/.changeset/new-pigs-live.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..10334f68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/new-pigs-live.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'grafana-github-datasource': patch
+---
+
+Fixed a panic when GitHub REST API returns error responses (e.g. 404, 401, 403)
diff --git a/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling.go b/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling.go
index f7aefed1..c50d655b 100644
--- a/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling.go
+++ b/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package githubclient
 
 import (
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -25,12 +26,33 @@ var (
 	}
 )
 
+// sanitizeGitHubError converts a *github.ErrorResponse into a plain error to
+// prevent a nil pointer dereference panic in the SDK's error handling.
+//
+// go-github v76 (https://github.com/google/go-github/pull/3739) changed ErrorResponse.Is to call errors.As(target, &v)
+// on the target, which panics when the SDK's guessErrorStatus passes typed nil targets
+// (e.g. (*url.Error)(nil)) to errors.Is. Converting to a plain error preserves
+// the message while removing the problematic Is method from the error chain.
+//
+// See TestGitHubErrorResponseWithTypedNilErrorsIs for a reproduction of the panic.
+func sanitizeGitHubError(err error) error {
+	var ghErr *googlegithub.ErrorResponse
+	if errors.As(err, &ghErr) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s", err.Error())
+	}
+	return err
+}
+
 func addErrorSourceToError(err error, resp *googlegithub.Response) error {
 	// If there is no error then return nil
 	if err == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// Sanitize *github.ErrorResponse before any further processing or wrapping.
+	// This prevents a panic in the SDK's error handling pipeline.
+	err = sanitizeGitHubError(err)
+
 	if backend.IsDownstreamHTTPError(err) {
 		return backend.DownstreamError(err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling_test.go b/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling_test.go
index 9a6071e1..6f2c1239 100644
--- a/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling_test.go
+++ b/pkg/github/client/errorsourcehandling_test.go
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@ package githubclient
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"syscall"
 	"testing"
@@ -103,6 +105,97 @@ func TestAddErrorSourceToError(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestAddErrorSourceToError_SanitizesGitHubErrorResponse verifies that addErrorSourceToError
+// strips *github.ErrorResponse from the error chain before returning.
+//
+// Background: go-github v76 changed ErrorResponse.Is to call errors.As(target, &v) on the
+// target error. https://github.com/google/go-github/pull/3739
+// The SDK's guessErrorStatus (backend/status.go:112) passes typed nil targets
+// (e.g. (*url.Error)(nil)) to errors.Is. When errors.Is walks the chain and reaches a
+// *github.ErrorResponse, ErrorResponse.Is calls errors.As on that typed nil, which tries
+// to call Unwrap() on the nil receiver and panics with a nil pointer dereference.
+//
+// The fix: sanitizeGitHubError converts *github.ErrorResponse to a plain error before it
+// can reach the SDK. This test ensures that guarantee holds for all REST API error scenarios.
+//
+// Real-world trigger: any query type that uses the GitHub REST API (Workflows, Code Scanning,
+// etc.) against a repo that returns a non-2xx response (e.g. 404 for a non-existent repo,
+// 401 for an expired token, 403 for insufficient permissions).
+func TestAddErrorSourceToError_SanitizesGitHubErrorResponse(t *testing.T) {
+	gitHubErrorResponses := []struct {
+		name       string
+		statusCode int
+		message    string
+	}{
+		{name: "404 Not Found (non-existent repo)", statusCode: http.StatusNotFound, message: "Not Found"},
+		{name: "401 Unauthorized (expired token)", statusCode: http.StatusUnauthorized, message: "Bad credentials"},
+		{name: "403 Forbidden (insufficient scopes)", statusCode: http.StatusForbidden, message: "Resource not accessible by integration"},
+		{name: "500 Internal Server Error", statusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError, message: "Internal Server Error"},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range gitHubErrorResponses {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			ghErr := &googlegithub.ErrorResponse{
+				Response: &http.Response{StatusCode: tc.statusCode},
+				Message:  tc.message,
+			}
+			resp := &googlegithub.Response{Response: &http.Response{StatusCode: tc.statusCode}}
+
+			result := addErrorSourceToError(ghErr, resp)
+
+			// Guard: *github.ErrorResponse must NOT be present in the returned error chain.
+			// If this fails, a future dependency bump or code change has broken the sanitization
+			// and the SDK will panic when processing this error.
+			var leaked *googlegithub.ErrorResponse
+			require.False(t, errors.As(result, &leaked),
+				"addErrorSourceToError must not leak *github.ErrorResponse into the error chain; "+
+					"the SDK's guessErrorStatus will panic due to go-github v81's ErrorResponse.Is")
+
+			// Verify the error message is preserved so user-facing messages are not lost.
+			require.Contains(t, result.Error(), tc.message,
+				"the sanitized error should preserve the original error message")
+
+			// Verify the SDK's guessErrorStatus code path does not panic.
+			// This replicates the exact calls the SDK makes at backend/status.go:108-112:
+			//   var connErr *url.Error   // typed nil
+			//   var netErr  *net.OpError  // typed nil
+			//   errors.Is(err, connErr) || errors.Is(err, netErr)
+			var connErr *url.Error
+			var netErr *net.OpError
+			require.NotPanics(t, func() {
+				errors.Is(result, connErr)
+				errors.Is(result, netErr)
+			}, "errors.Is with typed nil targets must not panic after sanitization")
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// TestSanitizeGitHubError_WrappedError verifies that sanitizeGitHubError also handles
+// *github.ErrorResponse that is wrapped inside another error (e.g. via fmt.Errorf("%w", err)),
+// which matches how some client methods pass errors to addErrorSourceToError.
+func TestSanitizeGitHubError_WrappedError(t *testing.T) {
+	ghErr := &googlegithub.ErrorResponse{
+		Response: &http.Response{StatusCode: http.StatusNotFound},
+		Message:  "Not Found",
+	}
+	wrapped := fmt.Errorf("fetching workflow usage: %w", ghErr)
+
+	result := sanitizeGitHubError(wrapped)
+
+	var leaked *googlegithub.ErrorResponse
+	require.False(t, errors.As(result, &leaked),
+		"sanitizeGitHubError must strip *github.ErrorResponse even when wrapped")
+	require.Contains(t, result.Error(), "Not Found")
+}
+
+// TestSanitizeGitHubError_NonGitHubError verifies that sanitizeGitHubError is a no-op
+// for errors that are not *github.ErrorResponse.
+func TestSanitizeGitHubError_NonGitHubError(t *testing.T) {
+	original := errors.New("some other error")
+	result := sanitizeGitHubError(original)
+	require.Equal(t, original, result, "non-github errors should pass through unchanged")
+}
+
 func TestExtractStatusCode(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name        string