References API

• Get a Reference
• Get all References
• Create a Reference
• Update a Reference
• Delete a Reference

Get a Reference

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs/:ref

The ref in the URL must be formatted as heads/branch, not just branch. For example, the call to get the data for a branch named skunkworkz/featureA would be:

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs/heads/skunkworkz/featureA

Response

Status: 200 OK
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

{
  "ref": "refs/heads/sc/featureA",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/heads/sc/featureA",
  "object": {
    "type": "commit",
    "sha": "aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd"
  }
}

Get all References

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs

This will return an array of all the references on the system, including things like notes and stashes if they exist on the server. Anything in the namespace, not just heads and tags, though that would be the most common.

You can also request a sub-namespace. For example, to get all the tag references, you can call:

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs/tags

For a full refs listing, you’ll get something that looks like:

Status: 200 OK
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

[
  {
    "ref": "refs/heads/master",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/heads/master",
    "object": {
      "type": "commit",
      "sha": "aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd"
    }
  },
  {
    "ref": "refs/heads/gh-pages",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/heads/gh-pages",
    "object": {
      "type": "commit",
      "sha": "612077ae6dffb4d2fbd8ce0cccaa58893b07b5ac",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/612077ae6dffb4d2fbd8ce0cccaa58893b07b5ac"
    }
  },
  {
    "ref": "refs/tags/v0.0.1",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/tags/v0.0.1",
    "object": {
      "type": "tag",
      "sha": "940bd336248efae0f9ee5bc7b2d5c985887b16ac",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/tags/940bd336248efae0f9ee5bc7b2d5c985887b16ac"
    }
  }
]

Create a Reference

POST /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs

Parameters

Input

{
  "ref": "refs/heads/master",
  "sha": "827efc6d56897b048c772eb4087f854f46256132"
}

Response

Status: 201 Created
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

{
  "ref": "refs/heads/sc/featureA",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/heads/sc/featureA",
  "object": {
    "type": "commit",
    "sha": "aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd"
  }
}

Update a Reference

PATCH /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs/:ref

Parameters

Input

{
  "sha": "aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd",
  "force": true
}

Response

Status: 200 OK
Location: https://api.github.com/git/:owner/:repo/commit/:sha
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

{
  "ref": "refs/heads/sc/featureA",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/heads/sc/featureA",
  "object": {
    "type": "commit",
    "sha": "aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/aa218f56b14c9653891f9e74264a383fa43fefbd"
  }
}

Delete a Reference

DELETE /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs/:ref

Example: Deleting a branch:

DELETE /repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/heads/feature-a

Example: Deleting a tag:

DELETE /repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs/tags/v1.0

Response

Status: 204 No Content
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999