diff --git a/github/github.go b/github/github.go
index 07b08ea27bf..e72fd1474c1 100644
--- a/github/github.go
+++ b/github/github.go
@@ -797,6 +797,30 @@ func WithVersion(version string) RequestOption {
 	}
 }
 
+// requestBufferPool pools response read buffers so that Client.Do can decode
+// JSON payloads without allocating a growing buffer per call.
+var requestBufferPool = sync.Pool{
+	New: func() any {
+		return new(bytes.Buffer)
+	},
+}
+
+// maxPooledBufferCap is the largest buffer capacity that putRequestBuffer
+// returns to requestBufferPool. Buffers that grew beyond it while reading an
+// unusually large response are dropped so they do not pin memory in the pool.
+const maxPooledBufferCap = 1 << 20
+
+// putRequestBuffer resets buf and returns it to requestBufferPool, dropping
+// oversized buffers. It reports whether buf was pooled.
+func putRequestBuffer(buf *bytes.Buffer) bool {
+	if buf.Cap() > maxPooledBufferCap {
+		return false
+	}
+	buf.Reset()
+	requestBufferPool.Put(buf)
+	return true
+}
+
 // NewRequest creates an API request. A relative URL can be provided in urlStr,
 // in which case it is resolved relative to the BaseURL of the Client.
 // Relative URLs should always be specified without a preceding slash. If
@@ -1409,12 +1433,21 @@ func (c *Client) Do(req *http.Request, v any) (*Response, error) {
 	case io.Writer:
 		_, err = io.Copy(v, resp.Body)
 	default:
-		decErr := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(v)
-		if decErr == io.EOF {
-			decErr = nil // ignore EOF errors caused by empty response body
-		}
-		if decErr != nil {
-			err = decErr
+		respBuf := requestBufferPool.Get().(*bytes.Buffer)
+		defer putRequestBuffer(respBuf)
+
+		_, readErr := respBuf.ReadFrom(resp.Body)
+		if readErr != nil {
+			err = readErr
+		} else if respBuf.Len() > 0 {
+			b := respBuf.Bytes()
+			decErr := json.Unmarshal(b, v)
+			if decErr != nil && len(bytes.TrimSpace(b)) == 0 {
+				decErr = nil // ignore errors caused by whitespace-only response body
+			}
+			if decErr != nil {
+				err = decErr
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	return resp, err
diff --git a/github/github_benchmark_test.go b/github/github_benchmark_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..47a61fe7239
--- /dev/null
+++ b/github/github_benchmark_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+// Copyright 2026 The go-github AUTHORS. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package github
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// fixedResponseTransport serves a canned JSON payload without touching the
+// network so that BenchmarkDo measures the real request/decode path alone.
+type fixedResponseTransport struct {
+	payload []byte
+}
+
+func (t *fixedResponseTransport) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+	return &http.Response{
+		StatusCode: http.StatusOK,
+		Header:     make(http.Header),
+		Body:       io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(t.payload)),
+		Request:    req,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+func BenchmarkDo(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, sizeKB := range []int{1, 500} {
+		b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%vKB", sizeKB), func(b *testing.B) {
+			payload, err := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"body": strings.Repeat("a", sizeKB*1024)})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("json.Marshal returned error: %v", err)
+			}
+			client, err := NewClient(WithHTTPClient(&http.Client{
+				Transport: &fixedResponseTransport{payload: payload},
+			}))
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("NewClient returned error: %v", err)
+			}
+			req, err := client.NewRequest(b.Context(), "GET", ".", nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("NewRequest returned error: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			b.ReportAllocs()
+			for b.Loop() {
+				var v map[string]string
+				if _, err := client.Do(req, &v); err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("Do returned error: %v", err)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/github/github_test.go b/github/github_test.go
index ae585cede4d..671b18ec8a9 100644
--- a/github/github_test.go
+++ b/github/github_test.go
@@ -3248,6 +3248,182 @@ func TestDo_noContent(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestDo_ioWriter(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	client, mux, _ := setup(t)
+
+	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		fmt.Fprint(w, "hello world")
+	})
+
+	req, _ := client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", ".", nil)
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	_, err := client.Do(req, &buf)
+	assertNilError(t, err)
+
+	if buf.String() != "hello world" {
+		t.Errorf("Response body = %q, want %q", buf.String(), "hello world")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_ioWriter_error(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	client, mux, _ := setup(t)
+
+	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		fmt.Fprint(w, "hello world")
+	})
+
+	req, _ := client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", ".", nil)
+	var w writerThatErrors
+	_, err := client.Do(req, &w)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Expected error from io.Writer, got none")
+	}
+}
+
+type writerThatErrors struct{}
+
+func (w *writerThatErrors) Write(_ []byte) (int, error) {
+	return 0, errors.New("write error")
+}
+
+func TestDo_invalidJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	client, mux, _ := setup(t)
+
+	type foo struct {
+		A string
+	}
+
+	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		fmt.Fprint(w, "not valid json")
+	})
+
+	req, _ := client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", ".", nil)
+	var body foo
+	_, err := client.Do(req, &body)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Expected JSON decode error, got none")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_whitespaceOnlyBody(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	client, mux, _ := setup(t)
+
+	type foo struct {
+		A string
+	}
+
+	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		fmt.Fprint(w, "  \n\t ")
+	})
+
+	req, _ := client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", ".", nil)
+	var body foo
+	_, err := client.Do(req, &body)
+	assertNilError(t, err)
+
+	if body.A != "" {
+		t.Errorf("Response body = %v, want empty foo", body)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_nilV_noop(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	client, mux, _ := setup(t)
+
+	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		fmt.Fprint(w, `{"A":"a"}`)
+	})
+
+	req, _ := client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", ".", nil)
+	resp, err := client.Do(req, nil)
+	assertNilError(t, err)
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		t.Errorf("Expected status %v, got %v", http.StatusOK, resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_readError(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	client, mux, _ := setup(t)
+
+	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		// Announce more bytes than are sent so that reading the response
+		// body fails with an unexpected EOF.
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Length", "64")
+		fmt.Fprint(w, `{"A":"a"}`)
+	})
+
+	type foo struct {
+		A string
+	}
+
+	req, _ := client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", ".", nil)
+	var body foo
+	_, err := client.Do(req, &body)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Expected body read error, got none")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_largeThenSmallBody(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	client, mux, _ := setup(t)
+
+	large := strings.Repeat("a", 2*maxPooledBufferCap)
+	mux.HandleFunc("/large", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"A":%q}`, large)
+	})
+	mux.HandleFunc("/small", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		testMethod(t, r, "GET")
+		fmt.Fprint(w, `{"A":"small"}`)
+	})
+
+	type foo struct {
+		A string
+	}
+
+	req, _ := client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", "large", nil)
+	var body foo
+	_, err := client.Do(req, &body)
+	assertNilError(t, err)
+	if body.A != large {
+		t.Error("Large response body was not decoded correctly")
+	}
+
+	req, _ = client.NewRequest(t.Context(), "GET", "small", nil)
+	body = foo{}
+	_, err = client.Do(req, &body)
+	assertNilError(t, err)
+	if body.A != "small" {
+		t.Errorf("Response body = %v, want %v", body.A, "small")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPutRequestBuffer(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	if !putRequestBuffer(new(bytes.Buffer)) {
+		t.Error("putRequestBuffer returned false for a small buffer, want true")
+	}
+
+	oversized := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	oversized.Grow(maxPooledBufferCap + 1)
+	if putRequestBuffer(oversized) {
+		t.Error("putRequestBuffer returned true for an oversized buffer, want false")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestClient_checkRequestAPIVersionBeforeDo(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()