diff --git a/components/server/src/github/api.ts b/components/server/src/github/api.ts
index 07ba99f9814b64..9c4c41cca06a3d 100644
--- a/components/server/src/github/api.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/github/api.ts
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ export class GitHubRestApi {
     }
 
     protected get userAgent() {
-        return new URL(this.config.oauth!.callBackUrl).hostname;
+        return (this.config.oauth && new URL(this.config.oauth?.callBackUrl)?.hostname) || "GitPod unknown";
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/components/server/src/github/file-provider.ts b/components/server/src/github/file-provider.ts
index 6421570398edc3..9f8b05afa85290 100644
--- a/components/server/src/github/file-provider.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/github/file-provider.ts
@@ -8,12 +8,11 @@ import { injectable, inject } from "inversify";
 
 import { FileProvider, MaybeContent } from "../repohost/file-provider";
 import { Commit, User, Repository } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol";
-import { GitHubGraphQlEndpoint, GitHubRestApi } from "./api";
+import { GitHubRestApi } from "./api";
 import { log } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/logging";
 
 @injectable()
 export class GithubFileProvider implements FileProvider {
-    @inject(GitHubGraphQlEndpoint) protected readonly githubGraphQlApi: GitHubGraphQlEndpoint;
     @inject(GitHubRestApi) protected readonly githubApi: GitHubRestApi;
 
     public async getGitpodFileContent(commit: Commit, user: User): Promise<MaybeContent> {
@@ -56,14 +55,27 @@ export class GithubFileProvider implements FileProvider {
         }
 
         try {
-            const contents = await this.githubGraphQlApi.getFileContents(
-                user,
-                commit.repository.owner,
-                commit.repository.name,
-                commit.revision,
-                path,
+            const response = await this.githubApi.run(user, (api) =>
+                api.repos.getContent({
+                    owner: commit.repository.owner,
+                    repo: commit.repository.name,
+                    path,
+                    ref: commit.revision,
+                    headers: {
+                        accept: "application/vnd.github.VERSION.raw",
+                    },
+                }),
             );
-            return contents;
+            if (response.status === 200) {
+                if (typeof response.data === "string") {
+                    return response.data;
+                }
+                console.warn("GithubFileProvider.getFileContent – unexpected response type.", {
+                    headers: response.headers,
+                    type: typeof response.data,
+                });
+            }
+            return undefined;
         } catch (err) {
             log.debug(err);
         }
diff --git a/components/server/src/github/github-file-provider.spec.ts b/components/server/src/github/github-file-provider.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a3cacfc4d2fa64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/server/src/github/github-file-provider.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2022 Gitpod GmbH. All rights reserved.
+ * Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+ * See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+ */
+
+import { User } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol";
+import { skipIfEnvVarNotSet } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/skip-if";
+import { expect } from "chai";
+import { Container, ContainerModule } from "inversify";
+import { suite, retries, test, timeout } from "mocha-typescript";
+import { AuthProviderParams } from "../auth/auth-provider";
+import { DevData } from "../dev/dev-data";
+import { TokenProvider } from "../user/token-provider";
+import { GitHubRestApi } from "./api";
+
+import { GithubFileProvider } from "./file-provider";
+import { GitHubTokenHelper } from "./github-token-helper";
+
+@suite(timeout(10000), retries(2), skipIfEnvVarNotSet("GITPOD_TEST_TOKEN_GITHUB"))
+class TestFileProvider {
+    static readonly AUTH_HOST_CONFIG: Partial<AuthProviderParams> = {
+        id: "Public-GitHub",
+        type: "GitHub",
+        verified: true,
+        description: "",
+        icon: "",
+        host: "github.com",
+    };
+
+    protected fileProvider: GithubFileProvider;
+    protected user: User;
+    protected container: Container;
+
+    public before() {
+        this.container = new Container();
+        this.container.load(
+            new ContainerModule((bind, unbind, isBound, rebind) => {
+                bind(GitHubRestApi).toSelf().inSingletonScope();
+                bind(AuthProviderParams).toConstantValue(TestFileProvider.AUTH_HOST_CONFIG);
+                bind(GitHubTokenHelper).toSelf().inSingletonScope();
+                bind(TokenProvider).toConstantValue(<TokenProvider>{
+                    getTokenForHost: async () => DevData.createGitHubTestToken(),
+                    getFreshPortAuthenticationToken: async (user: User, workspaceId: string) =>
+                        DevData.createPortAuthTestToken(workspaceId),
+                });
+                bind(GithubFileProvider).toSelf().inSingletonScope();
+            }),
+        );
+        this.fileProvider = this.container.get(GithubFileProvider);
+        this.user = DevData.createTestUser();
+    }
+
+    @test public async testFileContent() {
+        const result = await this.fileProvider.getFileContent(
+            {
+                repository: {
+                    owner: "gitpod-io",
+                    name: "gitpod",
+                    host: "github.com",
+                    cloneUrl: "unused in test",
+                },
+                revision: "af51739d341bb2245598e275336ae9f730e3b41a",
+            },
+            this.user,
+            "License.txt",
+        );
+        expect(result).to.not.be.undefined;
+        expect(result).to.contain(`To determine under which license you may use a file from the Gitpod source code,
+please resort to the header of that file.`);
+    }
+}
+
+module.exports = new TestFileProvider();