The GitHub API

This describes the resources that make up the official GitHub API v3. If you have any problems or requests please contact support.

For the new API v3, start browsing the resources on the right »

View the API Changelog for information on existing and planned changes to the API.

Current Version

Accept: application/vnd.github.beta+json

The GitHub API version is currently in beta. The beta media type property will be valid until sometime in 2013. A notice will be given closer to the actual date.

We consider the “beta” API unchangeable. File a support issue if you have problems.

Expected Changes

These changes are not implemented, just planned for the next major API version.

• [ ] Standardize on existing *_url attributes for hypermedia. Remove all _links objects.
• [✓] The ‘/repos/:owner/:repo/hooks/:id/test’ action becomes ‘/repos/:owner/:repo/hooks/:id/tests’.
• [✓] The ‘/gists/:id/fork’ action becomes ‘/gists/:id/forks’.
• [ ] Gist forks/history objects become separate API calls.
• [ ] Gist files object is not returned on Gist listings.
• [ ] Commit schema will change to be more consistent.
• [ ] master_branch becomes default_branch.
• [ ] integrate_branch on the repo API will no longer be returned.
• [ ] merge_commit_sha on the pull request API will no longer be returned.
• [ ] Use the private attribute when creating a private repository, instead of setting public to false.
• [ ] Use JSON to POST to the “repos/:owner/:repo/forks” endpoint, instead of a query string.
• [✓] User Emails come back as a hash instead of a string.
• [ ] Remove the unused “bio” field for Users.
• [ ] When listing the contents of a directory in the Repository Contents API, fix the type value returned for submodules: change the value to "submodule" (instead of "file").

Breaking Beta Changes

June 12, 2012:

• Removed API v1 support
• Removed API v2 support

June 15th, 2011:

• gravatar_url is being deprecated in favor of avatar_url for all responses that include users or orgs. A default size is no longer included in the url.
• Creating new gists (both anonymously and with an authenticated user) should use POST /gists from now on. POST /users/:user/gists is no longer supported.

June 1st, 2011:

• Removed support for PUT verb on update requests. Use POST or PATCH instead.
• Removed .json extension from all URLs.
• No longer using the X-Next or X-Last headers. Pagination info is returned in the Link header instead.
• JSON-P response has completely changed to a more consistent format.
• Starring gists now uses PUT verb (instead of POST) and returns 204.