Github API

By Abhishek Kumar
4 min read
Explore GitHub's API documentation for REST APIs and Webhooks to automate tasks, integrate with other systems, and receive real-time notifications. Learn about authentication, rate limits, and error handling to enhance your GitHub integration.

Table of Contents

GitHub brings together the world’s largest community of developers to discover, share, and build better software. From open source projects to private team repositories, we’re your all-in-one platform for collaborative development.

API Overview

GitHub is a web-based hosting service for software development projects that use the Git revision control system. It allows code collaboration among programmers, tracking changes to code, managing releases, and storing documentation. GitHub offers both free and paid plans, with the paid plans providing additional features such as private repositories, increased storage space, and enhanced security.

GitHub's API overview provides comprehensive documentation for its REST APIs, Webhooks, and rate limits. The REST APIs allow programmatic access to GitHub's features, enabling developers to automate tasks and integrate GitHub with other systems. Webhooks provide a way for external applications to receive real-time notifications about events that occur on GitHub, such as code pushes, pull requests, and issue updates. Rate limits are in place to prevent excessive usage of GitHub's APIs and ensure fair access for all users. The documentation includes detailed information on authentication, request and response formats, and error handling, making it easy for developers to integrate GitHub's APIs into their applications.

API Request Limits

Free

60 calls per hour for unauthenticated users and 5,000 calls per hour for authenticated users

Pro

1,000 calls per minute for authenticated users

Team

5,000 calls per minute for authenticated users

Enterprise Cloud

10,000 calls per minute for authenticated users

Enterprise Server

10,000 calls per minute for authenticated users

APIs

Current User

Method: GET

Description: Get the authenticated user..

Endpoint: users

Parameters:

Current User

Method: PATCH

Description: Update the authenticated user..

Endpoint: users

Parameters:

Organizations

Method: GET

Description: List organizations for the authenticated user..

Endpoint: orgs

Parameters:

Teams

Method: GET

Description: List teams..

Endpoint: teams

Parameters:

Teams

Method: POST

Description: Create a team..

Endpoint: teams

Parameters:

Teams

Method: DELETE

Description: Delete a team..

Endpoint: teams/:team_id

Parameters:

Organizations

Method: POST

Description: Create an organization..

Endpoint: orgs

Parameters:

Organizations

Method: PATCH

Description: Update an organization..

Endpoint: orgs/:org

Parameters:

Users

Method: GET

Description: Get a user..

Endpoint: users/:username

Parameters:

Issues

Method: GET

Description: List issues..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/issues

Parameters:

Issues

Method: POST

Description: Create an issue..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/issues

Parameters:

Pull Requests

Method: GET

Description: List pull requests..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/pulls

Parameters:

Pull Requests

Method: POST

Description: Create a pull request..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/pulls

Parameters:

Issues

Method: PATCH

Description: Update an issue..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/issues/:issue_number

Parameters:

Issues

Method: DELETE

Description: Delete an issue..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/issues/:issue_number

Parameters:

Issues

Method: GET

Description: Get a single issue..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/issues/:issue_number

Parameters:

Pull Requests

Method: PATCH

Description: Update a pull request..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/pulls/:pull_number

Parameters:

Pull Requests

Method: DELETE

Description: Delete a pull request..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/pulls/:pull_number

Parameters:

Teams

Method: PATCH

Description: Update a team..

Endpoint: teams/:team_id

Parameters:

Organizations

Method: GET

Description: Get an organization..

Endpoint: orgs/:org

Parameters:

Teams

Method: GET

Description: Get a team..

Endpoint: teams/:team_id

Parameters:

Pull Requests

Method: GET

Description: Get a single pull request..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/pulls/:pull_number

Parameters:

Users

Method: PATCH

Description: Update a user..

Endpoint: users/:username

Parameters:

Organizations

Method: DELETE

Description: Delete an organization..

Endpoint: orgs/:org

Parameters:

Users

Method: DELETE

Description: Delete a user..

Endpoint: users/:username

Parameters:

Emojis

Method: GET

Description: List emojis..

Endpoint: emojis

Parameters:

Git Data

Method: GET

Description: Get information about a Blob..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/git/blobs/:sha

Parameters:

Git Data

Method: GET

Description: Get information about a Commit..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/git/commits/:sha

Parameters:

Git Data

Method: GET

Description: Get information about a Git Tree..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/git/trees/:sha

Parameters:

Git Data

Method: GET

Description: Get information about a Tag..

Endpoint: repos/:owner/:repo/git/tags/:sha

Parameters:

FAQ

How can I authenticate with the GitHub API?

GitHub supports a variety of authentication methods including OAuth2, Personal Access Tokens, and Basic Authentication.

What are the rate limits for the GitHub API?

The GitHub API has rate limits in place to prevent abuse. For unauthenticated requests, the rate limit is 60 requests per hour. For authenticated requests, the rate limit is 5,000 requests per hour.

Can I create a sandbox account to test my GitHub API integrations?

No, GitHub does not provide sandbox accounts specifically for testing API integrations. However, you can use your personal account or create a new account for testing purposes.

How can I create a developer account on GitHub?

To create a developer account on GitHub, you can follow these steps: 1. Go to https://github.com/join 2. Fill out the form with your personal information 3. Click on the 'Create account' button

What is the difference between a GitHub API token and a personal access token?

A GitHub API token is a token that you can create to grant access to your GitHub account to a third-party application. A personal access token is a token that you can create to grant access to your GitHub account to another user.

Last Update: September 02, 2024