Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the brightest and most energetic events in the universe.The duration and hardness distribution of GRBs has two clusters 1 , now understood to reflect (at least) two different progenitors 2 . Short-hard GRBs (SGRBs; T 90 <2 s) arise from compact binary mergers, while long-soft GRBs (LGRBs; T 90 >2 s) have been attributed to the collapse of peculiar massive stars (collapsars) 3 . The discovery of SN 1998bw/GRB 980425 4 marked the first association of a LGRB with a collapsar and AT 2017gfo 5 /GRB 170817A/GW170817 6 marked the first association of a SGRB with a binary neutron star merger, producing also gravitational wave (GW). Here, we present the discovery of ZTF20abwysqy (AT2020scz), a fast-fading optical transient in the Fermi Satellite and the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) localization regions of GRB 200826A; X-ray and radio emission further confirm that this is the afterglow. Follow-up imaging (at rest-frame 16.5 days) reveals excess emission above the afterglow that cannot be explained as an underlying kilonova (KN), but is consistent with being the supernova (SN). Despite the GRB duration being short (rest-frame T 90 of 0.65 s), our panchromatic follow-up data confirms a collapsar origin. GRB 200826A is the shortestLGRB found with an associated collapsar; it appears to sit on the brink between a successful and a failed collapsar. Our discovery is consistent with the hypothesis that most collapsars fail to produce ultra-relativistic jets.On August 26, 2020, at 04:29:52 UT, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected GRB 200826A with duration (T 90 ) of 1.14 ± 0.13 seconds in the 50-300 keV energy rangeIn addition to Fermi (GBM trigger 620108997), GRB 200826A was detected by four other Interplanetary Network (IPN) instruments (see Methods).The gamma-ray properties alone do not always yield an unambiguous classification. Some SGRBs show afterglow and host properties akin to LGRBs, e.g. Ref. 7 ; some LGRBs show no evidence for collapsars to deep limits akin to SGRBs, e.g. Ref. 8 . Based solely on T 90 9 , GRB 200826A has a SGRB probability of 65% +12 −11 . Also taking into consideration the E peak parameter of a Comptonized model fit to the single spectrum over the duration of the burst (see