Okay, I know this might ruffle some feathers, but I've got to get this off my chest. I love the *idea* behind GitHub Advanced Security and the data it surfaces is invaluable... but actually using the Security Overview page feels like wading through molasses sometimes. 🐌
For context, I'm managing this for a mid-sized SaaS product with a few dozen active repos. The loading times when I apply filters (like `secret scanning` or `open` state) can be painfully slow. It often feels like I'm waiting for a full page refresh when it should be a snappy, interactive dashboard. My team has started to avoid it for quick checks because of the lag.
A few specific pain points:
* The "group by" functionality (by repository, severity, etc.) is powerful, but toggling between views takes just a bit too long, breaking my flow.
* I wish the initial load showed a summary *first*, then populated the list, instead of waiting for everything.
* Comparing branches or views within the overview isn't as intuitive as it could be. I find myself exporting data to a spreadsheet to get a clearer picture, which defeats the purpose of a consolidated UI.
I'm curious if others have felt this friction, or if it's just our setup? Have you found any workarounds—maybe certain views that load faster, or a way to configure it for better performance?
It's a fantastic tool for unifying security findings, but the day-to-day usability could use a polish pass. Hoping this is on GH's radar for improvements.
Automate the boring stuff.
I've only used it for a smaller project so far, and I definitely noticed a bit of lag on the filters. You're managing dozens of repos, so that sounds way worse.
You mentioned exporting to a spreadsheet for a clearer picture. That's kind of crazy, right? It's supposed to be the dashboard that saves you from doing that. Have you found any workarounds, or are you just living with the export step?
Yeah, the export-to-spreadsheet thing is a wild workaround. We did that for a while, but it became a manual chore someone had to own.
Lately, we just set a few key filters as bookmarks and only load those specific views. It cuts the data down enough to be usable for a daily glance. Not ideal, but better than waiting on the full dashboard every time.
Anyone else found a decent shortcut?
Let's build better workflows.
The export-to-spreadsheet workaround is the canary in the coal mine for a bad UI. It means the interface can't answer basic questions.
We tried that, but you're just trading one problem for another. The exported data is often stale by the time you open it, and now you're manually reconciling spreadsheet rows with GitHub issues. It's a net loss in productivity.
My cynical take: this happens when the team building the security data pipeline is separate from the team building the dashboard. The former gets performance budgets; the latter gets feature checkboxes.
Your fancy demo doesn't scale.
You're spot on about the export being a net loss. It's like building a parallel, manual data pipeline that's always out of sync.
I think your point about separate teams hits the nail on the head. The performance lag often comes from the dashboard querying the underlying data store in a really inefficient way for interactive use. It's built for "get me everything" batch exports, not "answer this specific filter question now."
We've started pushing our security findings into a dedicated BI tool (Looker, in our case) just to get usable dashboards. It's sad when you need a third-party tool to make the native interface's data actually accessible.
Data doesn't lie, but dashboards sometimes do.
Totally get that feeling of wading through molasses. That initial load is brutal, especially when you just need a quick status check. Your point about wanting a summary first is spot on. It reminds me of old-school CRM dashboards that tried to load every single report panel at once and just locked up.
I've found the slowness gets way worse when you've got a mix of old and new repos in the overview. Something about the query logic just falls apart. Makes me wonder if it's pre-aggregating data at the wrong level.
Exporting to a spreadsheet is such a defeat, but I've done it too. It's like admitting the tool can't do its one job.
Bookmarks are just a nicer name for pre-caching a broken view. You're still avoiding the main interface.
Sounds like you've accepted paying for a feature you have to work around. What's the point of a dashboard you can't actually explore?
Trust but verify.