Github V2

GitHub's REST API is one of the most comprehensive developer APIs available — covering the full software development lifecycle: repository management, issue tracking, PR review, commit history, GitHub Actions workflow management, Dependabot alerts, code scanning results, and org/user management. For agents: create issues from monitoring alerts, comment on PRs from CI/CD systems, trigger Actions workflows, query commit history for changelog generation, manage releases, and inspect code scanning results. 5000 requests/hour (authenticated) is generous for most workloads. GitHub Apps provide higher rate limits and more granular permissions. Confidence is docs-derived.

REST API at api.github.com. Key resources: repos, issues, pulls, commits, releases, actions, code-scanning, orgs, users. GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues lists issues. POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues creates an issue ({title, body, labels, assignees}). POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments adds a comment. GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls lists PRs. POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/{id}/dispatches triggers a workflow ({ref, inputs}). GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs lists workflow runs. POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases creates a release ({tag_name, name, body, draft, prerelease}). GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits retrieves commit history. GraphQL API: POST /graphql for complex queries.

Three auth options: (1) PAT (Personal Access Token): Authorization: Bearer {pat}. From GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens. Fine-grained PATs scope to specific repos and permissions. (2) GitHub App: generate JWT from app private key, exchange for installation access token. Higher rate limits (up to 15,000 req/hour). Per-installation permissions. (3) OAuth App: authorization code flow for user-delegated access. HTTPS enforced. Token scoping: repo, issues, workflow, read:org, etc.

Standard HTTP status codes with JSON error bodies ({message, errors, documentation_url}). 403 for missing permissions (check token scopes). 404 for private repo without access. 422 for validation errors. Rate limiting: 5000 req/hour (PAT), 15,000+ (GitHub App). Rate limit headers: X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset. Secondary rate limits: prevent high-volume write operations (add delays between bulk writes). Webhook delivery: configurable per-repo or org; GitHub retries failed deliveries. GitHub API uptime at githubstatus.com.

docs.github.com/en/rest is excellent — comprehensive REST reference with interactive API explorer, Octokit SDK docs, GitHub App setup guide, OAuth guide, and webhook payload reference. Getting started: GitHub account (free), generate PAT, first API call in under 2 minutes. Octokit SDK (@octokit/rest for Node.js, PyGitHub for Python) provides typed access. GitHub CLI (gh api) for command-line API access. Community via GitHub Community forum and GitHub Skills courses. GitHub API has been stable for 10+ years with strong versioning.