Github

GitHub REST API API Skill

Overview

The GitHub REST API (v3) allows deep integration with Git data, pull requests, and GitHub Actions. This skill emphasizes the Octokit SDK.

Installation

npm install octokit
pip install PyGithub

Authentication

Use Personal Access Tokens (Classic or Fine-grained) passed as Bearer tokens. Fine-grained PATs are highly recommended for least-privilege access.

Core Concepts

• Octokit: The official SDK.
• Refs: Git references (branches/tags).
• Checks: Status reports for commits (used by CI).

Common Workflows

1. Authenticate Octokit.
2. Call octokit.rest.pulls.create to open a PR.
3. Request reviewers via octokit.rest.pulls.requestReviewers.

Error Handling

Handle HttpError. Status 404 often indicates missing permissions (due to token scope) rather than a truly missing resource.

Security

Never store PATs in source code. Use GitHub Apps for server-to-server integrations rather than service accounts.

Rate Limits

Authenticated requests are limited to 5,000 per hour. Search API is limited to 30 requests per minute.

Best Practices

Use GraphQL for deeply nested data retrieval to save REST calls. Use the If-None-Match header to utilize conditional requests (saves rate limits).

Troubleshooting

If Actions fail to trigger via API, ensure your token has the workflow scope.

References

• API Reference

Why use this skill

Use this when your agent works with github — structured patterns beat pasted docs and prevent common hallucinations.

AI pitfalls

• Referencing CLI flags or config keys that do not exist
• Using outdated major versions of tools
• Skipping lockfile or version pinning in examples

Production checklist

• Secrets in environment variables, not source code
• Error handling and logging in place
• Rate limits and timeouts configured

Related skills

• No graph relationships yet — see the knowledge graph in the docs site.

Last Verified: 2026-07-02