docs/content/rest/reference/repos.md

title, intro, allowTitleToDifferFromFilename, redirect_from, versions, topics, miniTocMaxHeadingLevel

title	intro	allowTitleToDifferFromFilename	redirect_from	versions	topics	miniTocMaxHeadingLevel
Repositories	The Repos API allows to create, manage and control the workflow of public and private {% data variables.product.product_name %} respositories.	true	/v3/repos	fpt ghes ghae * * *	API	3

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% unless operation.subcategory %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endunless %} {% endfor %}

{% ifversion fpt %}

Autolinks

{% tip %}

Note: The Autolinks API is in beta and may change.

{% endtip %}

To help streamline your workflow, you can use the API to add autolinks to external resources like JIRA issues and Zendesk tickets. For more information, see "Configuring autolinks to reference external resources."

{% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} require repository administration permissions with read or write access to use the Autolinks API.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'autolinks' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %} {% endif %}

Branches

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'branches' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Collaborators

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'collaborators' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Comments

Custom media types for commit comments

These are the supported media types for commit comments. You can read more about the use of media types in the API here.

application/vnd.github-commitcomment.raw+json
application/vnd.github-commitcomment.text+json
application/vnd.github-commitcomment.html+json
application/vnd.github-commitcomment.full+json

For more information, see "Custom media types."

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'comments' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Commits

The Repo Commits API supports listing, viewing, and comparing commits in a repository.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'commits' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

{% ifversion fpt %}

Community

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'community' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

{% endif %}

Contents

These API endpoints let you create, modify, and delete Base64 encoded content in a repository. To request the raw format or rendered HTML (when supported), use custom media types for repository contents.

Custom media types for repository contents

READMEs, files, and symlinks support the following custom media types:

application/vnd.github.VERSION.raw
application/vnd.github.VERSION.html

Use the .raw media type to retrieve the contents of the file.

For markup files such as Markdown or AsciiDoc, you can retrieve the rendered HTML using the .html media type. Markup languages are rendered to HTML using our open-source Markup library.

All objects support the following custom media type:

application/vnd.github.VERSION.object

Use the object media type parameter to retrieve the contents in a consistent object format regardless of the content type. For example, instead of an array of objects for a directory, the response will be an object with an entries attribute containing the array of objects.

You can read more about the use of media types in the API here.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'contents' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Deploy keys

{% data reusables.repositories.deploy-keys %}

Deploy keys can either be setup using the following API endpoints, or by using GitHub. To learn how to set deploy keys up in GitHub, see "Managing deploy keys."

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'keys' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Deployments

Deployments are requests to deploy a specific ref (branch, SHA, tag). GitHub dispatches a deployment event that external services can listen for and act on when new deployments are created. Deployments enable developers and organizations to build loosely coupled tooling around deployments, without having to worry about the implementation details of delivering different types of applications (e.g., web, native).

Deployment statuses allow external services to mark deployments with an error, failure, pending, in_progress, queued, or success state that systems listening to deployment_status events can consume.

Deployment statuses can also include an optional description and log_url, which are highly recommended because they make deployment statuses more useful. The log_url is the full URL to the deployment output, and the description is a high-level summary of what happened with the deployment.

GitHub dispatches deployment and deployment_status events when new deployments and deployment statuses are created. These events allows third-party integrations to receive respond to deployment requests and update the status of a deployment as progress is made.

Below is a simple sequence diagram for how these interactions would work.

+---------+             +--------+            +-----------+        +-------------+
| Tooling |             | GitHub |            | 3rd Party |        | Your Server |
+---------+             +--------+            +-----------+        +-------------+
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |  Create Deployment   |                       |                     |
     |--------------------->|                       |                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |  Deployment Created  |                       |                     |
     |<---------------------|                       |                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |   Deployment Event    |                     |
     |                      |---------------------->|                     |
     |                      |                       |     SSH+Deploys     |
     |                      |                       |-------------------->|
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |   Deployment Status   |                     |
     |                      |<----------------------|                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |                       |   Deploy Completed  |
     |                      |                       |<--------------------|
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |   Deployment Status   |                     |
     |                      |<----------------------|                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |

Keep in mind that GitHub is never actually accessing your servers. It's up to your third-party integration to interact with deployment events. Multiple systems can listen for deployment events, and it's up to each of those systems to decide whether they're responsible for pushing the code out to your servers, building native code, etc.

Note that the repo_deployment OAuth scope grants targeted access to deployments and deployment statuses without granting access to repository code, while the {% ifversion not ghae %}public_repo and{% endif %}repo scopes grant permission to code as well.

Inactive deployments

When you set the state of a deployment to success, then all prior non-transient, non-production environment deployments in the same repository to the same environment name will become inactive. To avoid this, you can set auto_inactive to false when creating the deployment status.

You can communicate that a transient environment no longer exists by setting its state to inactive. Setting the state to inactive shows the deployment as destroyed in {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} and removes access to it.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'deployments' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

{% ifversion fpt or ghes > 3.1 or ghae-next %}

Environments

The Environments API allows you to create, configure, and delete environments. For more information about environments, see "Environments." To manage environment secrets, see "Secrets."

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'environments' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %} {% endif %}

Forks

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'forks' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Invitations

The Repository Invitations API allows users or external services to invite other users to collaborate on a repo. The invited users (or external services on behalf of invited users) can choose to accept or decline the invitations.

Note that the repo:invite OAuth scope grants targeted access to invitations without also granting access to repository code, while the repo scope grants permission to code as well as invitations.

Invite a user to a repository

Use the API endpoint for adding a collaborator. For more information, see "Add a repository collaborator."

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'invitations' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Merging

The Repo Merging API supports merging branches in a repository. This accomplishes essentially the same thing as merging one branch into another in a local repository and then pushing to {% data variables.product.product_name %}. The benefit is that the merge is done on the server side and a local repository is not needed. This makes it more appropriate for automation and other tools where maintaining local repositories would be cumbersome and inefficient.

The authenticated user will be the author of any merges done through this endpoint.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'merging' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Pages

The {% data variables.product.prodname_pages %} API retrieves information about your {% data variables.product.prodname_pages %} configuration, and the statuses of your builds. Information about the site and the builds can only be accessed by authenticated owners{% ifversion not ghae %}, even if the websites are public{% endif %}. For more information, see "About {% data variables.product.prodname_pages %}."

In {% data variables.product.prodname_pages %} API endpoints with a status key in their response, the value can be one of:

• null: The site has yet to be built.
• queued: The build has been requested but not yet begun.
• building:The build is in progress.
• built: The site has been built.
• errored: Indicates an error occurred during the build.

In {% data variables.product.prodname_pages %} API endpoints that return GitHub Pages site information, the JSON responses include these fields:

• html_url: The absolute URL (including scheme) of the rendered Pages site. For example, https://username.github.io.
• source: An object that contains the source branch and directory for the rendered Pages site. This includes:
  • branch: The repository branch used to publish your site's source files. For example, main or gh-pages.
  • path: The repository directory from which the site publishes. Will be either / or /docs.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'pages' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Releases

{% note %}

Note: The Releases API replaces the Downloads API. You can retrieve the download count and browser download URL from the endpoints in this API that return releases and release assets.

{% endnote %}

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'releases' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Statistics

The Repository Statistics API allows you to fetch the data that {% data variables.product.product_name %} uses for visualizing different types of repository activity.

A word about caching

Computing repository statistics is an expensive operation, so we try to return cached data whenever possible. If the data hasn't been cached when you query a repository's statistics, you'll receive a 202 response; a background job is also fired to start compiling these statistics. Give the job a few moments to complete, and then submit the request again. If the job has completed, that request will receive a 200 response with the statistics in the response body.

Repository statistics are cached by the SHA of the repository's default branch; pushing to the default branch resets the statistics cache.

Statistics exclude some types of commits

The statistics exposed by the API match the statistics shown by different repository graphs.

To summarize:

• All statistics exclude merge commits.
• Contributor statistics also exclude empty commits.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'statistics' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Statuses

The status API allows external services to mark commits with an error, failure, pending, or success state, which is then reflected in pull requests involving those commits.

Statuses can also include an optional description and target_url, and we highly recommend providing them as they make statuses much more useful in the GitHub UI.

As an example, one common use is for continuous integration services to mark commits as passing or failing builds using status. The target_url would be the full URL to the build output, and the description would be the high level summary of what happened with the build.

Statuses can include a context to indicate what service is providing that status. For example, you may have your continuous integration service push statuses with a context of ci, and a security audit tool push statuses with a context of security. You can then use the Get the combined status for a specific reference to retrieve the whole status for a commit.

Note that the repo:status OAuth scope grants targeted access to statuses without also granting access to repository code, while the repo scope grants permission to code as well as statuses.

If you are developing a GitHub App and want to provide more detailed information about an external service, you may want to use the Checks API.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'statuses' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

{% ifversion fpt %}

Traffic

For repositories that you have push access to, the traffic API provides access to the information provided in your repository graph. For more information, see "Viewing traffic to a repository."

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'traffic' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %} {% endif %}

Webhooks

Repository webhooks allow you to receive HTTP POST payloads whenever certain events happen in a repository. {% data reusables.webhooks.webhooks-rest-api-links %}

If you would like to set up a single webhook to receive events from all of your organization's repositories, see our API documentation for Organization Webhooks.

In addition to the REST API, {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} can also serve as a PubSubHubbub hub for repositories.

{% for operation in currentRestOperations %} {% if operation.subcategory == 'webhooks' %}{% include rest_operation %}{% endif %} {% endfor %}

Receiving Webhooks

In order for {% data variables.product.product_name %} to send webhook payloads, your server needs to be accessible from the Internet. We also highly suggest using SSL so that we can send encrypted payloads over HTTPS.

Webhook headers

{% data variables.product.product_name %} will send along several HTTP headers to differentiate between event types and payload identifiers. See webhook headers for details.

PubSubHubbub

GitHub can also serve as a PubSubHubbub hub for all repositories. PSHB is a simple publish/subscribe protocol that lets servers register to receive updates when a topic is updated. The updates are sent with an HTTP POST request to a callback URL. Topic URLs for a GitHub repository's pushes are in this format:

https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/events/{event}

The event can be any available webhook event. For more information, see "Webhook events and payloads."

Response format

The default format is what existing post-receive hooks should expect: A JSON body sent as the payload parameter in a POST. You can also specify to receive the raw JSON body with either an Accept header, or a .json extension.

Accept: application/json
https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/events/push.json

Callback URLs

Callback URLs can use the http:// protocol.

# Send updates to postbin.org
http://postbin.org/123

Subscribing

The GitHub PubSubHubbub endpoint is: {% data variables.product.api_url_code %}/hub. A successful request with curl looks like:

curl -u "user" -i \
  {% data variables.product.api_url_pre %}/hub \
  -F "hub.mode=subscribe" \
  -F "hub.topic=https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/events/push" \
  -F "hub.callback=http://postbin.org/123"

PubSubHubbub requests can be sent multiple times. If the hook already exists, it will be modified according to the request.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
hub.mode	string	Required. Either subscribe or unsubscribe.
hub.topic	string	Required. The URI of the GitHub repository to subscribe to. The path must be in the format of /{owner}/{repo}/events/{event}.
hub.callback	string	The URI to receive the updates to the topic.
hub.secret	string	A shared secret key that generates a hash signature of the outgoing body content. You can verify a push came from GitHub by comparing the raw request body with the contents of the {% ifversion fpt or ghes > 2.22 %}X-Hub-Signature or X-Hub-Signature-256 headers{% elsif ghes < 3.0 %}X-Hub-Signature header{% elsif ghae %}X-Hub-Signature-256 header{% endif %}. You can see the PubSubHubbub documentation for more details.