Repositories

All repository endpoints follow the GitHub REST API v3 shape. Replace $HOST, $TOKEN, $OWNER, and $REPO with your values throughout.

export HOST=https://git.example.com
export TOKEN=ghp_yourtoken
export OWNER=alice
export REPO=myproject

Repository object

A repository response looks like this:

{
  "id": 42,
  "node_id": "R_kgDOAA",
  "name": "myproject",
  "full_name": "alice/myproject",
  "private": false,
  "owner": {
    "login": "alice",
    "id": 7,
    "node_id": "U_kgDA",
    "avatar_url": "https://git.example.com/avatars/7",
    "type": "User",
    "site_admin": false
  },
  "description": "A sample project",
  "fork": false,
  "url": "https://git.example.com/api/v3/repos/alice/myproject",
  "html_url": "https://git.example.com/alice/myproject",
  "clone_url": "https://git.example.com/alice/myproject.git",
  "ssh_url": "[email protected]:alice/myproject.git",
  "homepage": "https://myproject.example.com",
  "language": "Go",
  "stargazers_count": 11,
  "watchers_count": 11,
  "forks_count": 2,
  "open_issues_count": 3,
  "default_branch": "main",
  "visibility": "public",
  "has_issues": true,
  "has_wiki": false,
  "pushed_at": "2026-06-09T14:22:00Z",
  "created_at": "2025-01-15T09:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-06-09T14:22:00Z",
  "topics": ["go", "api"],
  "archived": false,
  "disabled": false
}

Create a repository

Create under the authenticated user:

curl -s -X POST "$HOST/user/repos" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "myproject",
    "description": "A sample project",
    "private": false,
    "has_issues": true,
    "has_wiki": false,
    "auto_init": true,
    "default_branch": "main"
  }'

Create under an organization:

curl -s -X POST "$HOST/orgs/myorg/repos" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "myproject",
    "private": true
  }'

Both return 201 Created with the full repository object.

Get a repository

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO"

Returns 200 OK with the repository object. Returns 404 Not Found if the repository does not exist or you lack read access.

Update a repository

curl -s -X PATCH "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "description": "Updated description",
    "homepage": "https://myproject.example.com",
    "private": true,
    "has_issues": true,
    "has_wiki": false,
    "default_branch": "main"
  }'

All fields are optional. Only included fields are updated. Returns 200 OK with the updated repository object.

Delete a repository

curl -s -X DELETE "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json"

Returns 204 No Content on success. This operation is permanent. The underlying git data is removed from disk.

List repositories for the authenticated user

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  "$HOST/user/repos?type=all&sort=pushed&direction=desc&per_page=30"

Query parameters:

Parameter	Values	Default
type	all, owner, member, public, private	owner
sort	created, updated, pushed, full_name	full_name
direction	asc, desc	depends on sort
per_page	1-100	30
page	integer	1

Returns an array of repository objects. Pagination links are in the Link response header:

Link: <https://git.example.com/user/repos?page=2>; rel="next"

List public repositories for a user

No authentication required for public repositories:

curl -s \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  "$HOST/users/$OWNER/repos"

Topics

Get topics:

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/topics"

Response:

{"names": ["go", "api", "rest"]}

Replace topics (this is a full replacement, not a merge):

curl -s -X PUT "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/topics" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"names": ["go", "api", "rest", "githome"]}'

Returns 200 OK with the updated {"names": [...]} object. Topic names must be lowercase, start with a letter or number, and contain only letters, numbers, and hyphens. Maximum 20 topics per repository.

Fork a repository

Fork to the authenticated user's namespace:

curl -s -X POST "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/forks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json"

Fork into an organization:

curl -s -X POST "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/forks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"organization": "myorg"}'

Returns 202 Accepted while the fork is being created. The fork appears as a full repository object with "fork": true and the parent field pointing to the source repository.

Transfer a repository

Transfer ownership to another user or organization:

curl -s -X POST "$HOST/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/transfer" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"new_owner": "newowner"}'

Returns 202 Accepted. The repository URL changes to reflect the new owner. Old URLs redirect to the new location.