hermes-agent/skills/software-development/github/references/github-api-cheatsheet.md

GitHub REST API Cheatsheet

Base URL: https://api.github.com

All requests need: -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN"

Use the gh-env.sh helper to set $GITHUB_TOKEN, $GH_OWNER, $GH_REPO automatically:

source "${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/skills/github/github-auth/scripts/gh-env.sh"

Repositories

Action	Method	Endpoint
Get repo info	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}
Create repo (user)	POST	/user/repos
Create repo (org)	POST	/orgs/{org}/repos
Update repo	PATCH	/repos/{owner}/{repo}
Delete repo	DELETE	/repos/{owner}/{repo}
List your repos	GET	/user/repos?per_page=30&sort=updated
List org repos	GET	/orgs/{org}/repos
Fork repo	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/forks
Create from template	POST	/repos/{owner}/{template}/generate
Get topics	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/topics
Set topics	PUT	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/topics

Pull Requests

Action	Method	Endpoint
List PRs	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls?state=open
Create PR	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls
Get PR	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}
Update PR	PATCH	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}
List PR files	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/files
Merge PR	PUT	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/merge
Request reviewers	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/requested_reviewers
Create review	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/reviews
Inline comment	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/comments

PR Merge Body

{"merge_method": "squash", "commit_title": "feat: description (#N)"}

Merge methods: "merge", "squash", "rebase"

PR Review Events

"APPROVE", "REQUEST_CHANGES", "COMMENT"

Issues

Action	Method	Endpoint
List issues	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues?state=open
Create issue	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues
Get issue	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}
Update issue	PATCH	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}
Add comment	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments
Add labels	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/labels
Remove label	DELETE	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/labels/{name}
Add assignees	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/assignees
List labels	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels
Search issues	GET	/search/issues?q={query}+repo:{owner}/{repo}

Note: The Issues API also returns PRs. Filter with "pull_request" not in item when parsing.

CI / GitHub Actions

Action	Method	Endpoint
List workflows	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows
List runs	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs?per_page=10
List runs (branch)	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs?branch={branch}
Get run	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id}
Download logs	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id}/logs
Re-run	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id}/rerun
Re-run failed	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id}/rerun-failed-jobs
Trigger dispatch	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/{id}/dispatches
Commit status	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits/{sha}/status
Check runs	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits/{sha}/check-runs

Releases

Action	Method	Endpoint
List releases	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases
Create release	POST	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases
Get release	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/{id}
Delete release	DELETE	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/{id}
Upload asset	POST	https://uploads.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/{id}/assets?name={filename}

Secrets

Action	Method	Endpoint
List secrets	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/secrets
Get public key	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/secrets/public-key
Set secret	PUT	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/secrets/{name}
Delete secret	DELETE	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/secrets/{name}

Branch Protection

Action	Method	Endpoint
Get protection	GET	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/{branch}/protection
Set protection	PUT	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/{branch}/protection
Delete protection	DELETE	/repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/{branch}/protection

User / Auth

Action	Method	Endpoint
Get current user	GET	/user
List user repos	GET	/user/repos
List user gists	GET	/gists
Create gist	POST	/gists
Search repos	GET	/search/repositories?q={query}

Pagination

Most list endpoints support:

• ?per_page=100 (max 100)
• ?page=2 for next page
• Check Link header for rel="next" URL

Rate Limits

• Authenticated: 5,000 requests/hour
• Check remaining: curl -s -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" https://api.github.com/rate_limit

Common curl Patterns

# GET
curl -s -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$GH_OWNER/$GH_REPO

# POST with JSON body
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$GH_OWNER/$GH_REPO/issues \
  -d '{"title": "...", "body": "..."}'

# PATCH (update)
curl -s -X PATCH \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$GH_OWNER/$GH_REPO/issues/42 \
  -d '{"state": "closed"}'

# DELETE
curl -s -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$GH_OWNER/$GH_REPO/issues/42/labels/bug

# Parse JSON response with python3
curl -s ... | python3 -c "import sys,json; data=json.load(sys.stdin); print(data['field'])"