@octokit/rest

What is @octokit/rest?

The @octokit/rest npm package is a client library for accessing the GitHub REST API. It provides a convenient way to interact with GitHub resources such as repositories, issues, pull requests, and more, directly from your JavaScript code. It abstracts away the direct HTTP requests to GitHub, offering an easier and more intuitive way to access GitHub data and perform operations.

What are @octokit/rest's main functionalities?

Repository Management

This feature allows you to manage repositories. The code sample demonstrates how to create a new public repository for the authenticated user.

const { Octokit } = require('@octokit/rest');
const octokit = new Octokit({ auth: 'personal-access-token' });
octokit.repos.createForAuthenticatedUser({
  name: 'new-repo',
  private: false
});

Issues Management

This feature enables you to manage issues in a repository. The code sample shows how to create a new issue in a specified repository.

const { Octokit } = require('@octokit/rest');
const octokit = new Octokit({ auth: 'personal-access-token' });
octokit.issues.create({
  owner: 'username',
  repo: 'repository-name',
  title: 'New Issue Title',
  body: 'Description of the issue.'
});

Pull Requests

This feature allows for the creation and management of pull requests. The code sample illustrates how to create a pull request from one branch to another within the same repository.

const { Octokit } = require('@octokit/rest');
const octokit = new Octokit({ auth: 'personal-access-token' });
octokit.pulls.create({
  owner: 'username',
  repo: 'repository-name',
  title: 'New Pull Request',
  head: 'branch-name',
  base: 'base-branch'
});

Other packages similar to @octokit/rest

github

The 'github' npm package is another client library for the GitHub API. It offers similar functionalities to @octokit/rest but has been deprecated in favor of @octokit/rest, which is its direct successor. @octokit/rest provides a more modern and feature-rich interface.

node-github

The 'node-github' package is an older client for the GitHub API, offering basic functionalities to interact with GitHub resources. Compared to @octokit/rest, it might not be as up-to-date or feature-rich, as @octokit/rest is the official client library recommended by GitHub.

README

rest.js

GitHub REST API client for JavaScript

• Usage
  • Node
  • Browser
  • Client options
• Authentication
• API docs
• API Previews
• Custom requests
• Pagination
• Hooks
• Plugins
• Register custom endpoint methods
• Throttling
• Automatic retries
• Logging
• Debug
• Contributing
• Credits
• LICENSE

Usage

Node

Install with npm install @octokit/rest.

const Octokit = require('@octokit/rest')
const octokit = new Octokit ()

// Compare: https://developer.github.com/v3/repos/#list-organization-repositories
octokit.repos.listForOrg({
  org: 'octokit',
  type: 'public'
}).then(({ data, status, headers }) => {
  // handle data
})

Browser

1. Download octokit-rest.min.js from the latest release: https://github.com/octokit/rest.js/releases

2. Load it as script into your web application:

   <script src="octokit-rest.min.js"></script>
   

3. Initialize octokit

   const octokit = new Octokit()
   
   // Compare: https://developer.github.com/v3/repos/#list-organization-repositories
   octokit.repos.listForOrg({
     org: 'octokit',
     type: 'public'
   }).then(({data, headers, status}) => {
     // handle data
   })
   

Client options

All available client options with default values

const Octokit = require('@octokit/rest')
const octokit = new Octokit({
  // see "Authentication" section below
  auth: undefined,

  // setting a user agent is required: https://developer.github.com/v3/#user-agent-required
  // v1.2.3 will be current @octokit/rest version
  userAgent: 'octokit/rest.js v1.2.3',

  // add list of previews you’d like to enable globally,
  // see https://developer.github.com/v3/previews/.
  // Example: ['jean-grey-preview', 'symmetra-preview']
  previews: [],

  // set custom URL for on-premise GitHub Enterprise installations
  baseUrl: 'https://api.github.com',
  
  // pass custom methods for debug, info, warn and error
  log: {
    debug: () => {},
    info: () => {},
    warn: console.warn,
    error: console.error
  },

  request: {
    // Node.js only: advanced request options can be passed as http(s) agent,
    // such as custom SSL certificate or proxy settings.
    // See https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_class_http_agent
    agent: undefined,

    // request timeout in ms. 0 means no timeout
    timeout: 0
  }
})

Authentication

Most GitHub API calls don't require authentication. Rules of thumb:

1. If you can see the information by visiting the site without being logged in, you don't have to be authenticated to retrieve the same information through the API.
2. If you want to change data, you have to be authenticated.

To enable authenticated requests, pass an auth option to the Octokit constructor:

const clientWithAuth = new Octokit({
  auth: 'token secret123'
})

The auth option can be

1. A string

   The value will be passed as value for the Authorization header, see authentication.

   new Octokit({
     auth: 'token secret123'
   })
   

   Use this for

   • personal access tokens
   • OAuth access tokens
   • GitHub App bearer tokens
   • GitHub App installation tokens

2. As object with the properties username, password, on2fa.

   on2fa is an asynchronous function that must resolve with two-factor authentication code sent to the user.

   new Octokit({
     auth: {
       username: 'octocat',
       password: 'secret',
       async on2fa () {
         // example: ask the user
         return prompt('Two-factor authentication Code:')
       }
     }
   })
   

3. An object with the properties clientId and clientSecret

   OAuth applications can authenticate using their clientId and clientSecret in order to increase the unauthenticated rate limit.

4. A function

   Must resolve with a string which then will be passed as value for the Authorization header. The function will be called before each request and can be asynchronous.

   new Octokit({
     auth () {
       return 'token secret123'
     }
   })
   

   This is useful for GitHub apps, as installations need to renew their tokens each hour. Here is an example on how to implement authentication for GitHub Apps

   const App = require('@octokit/app')
   const Octokit = require('@octokit/rest')
   
   const app = new App({ id: process.env.APP_ID, privateKey: process.env.PRIVATE_KEY })
   const octokit = new Octokit({
     async auth () {
       const installationAccessToken = await app.getInstallationAccessToken({ 
         installationId: process.env.INSTALLATION_ID 
       });
       return `token ${installationAccessToken}`;
     }
   })
   

   See also: https://github.com/octokit/app.js#authenticating-as-an-installation.

API docs

Find all APIs documented at https://octokit.github.io/rest.js/.

API Previews

To enable any of GitHub’s API Previews, pass the previews option to the GitHub constructor

const octokit = new Octokit({
  previews: [
    'mercy-preview'
  ]
})

If you want to enable a preview for a single request, pass it as as the accept header

const { data: { topics } } = await octokit.repos.get({
  owner: 'octokit',
  repo: 'rest.js',
  headers: {
    accept: 'application/vnd.github.mercy-preview+json'
  }
})

Multiple preview headers can be combined by separating them with commas

const { data: { topics, codeOfConduct } } = await octokit.repos.get({
  owner: 'octokit',
  repo: 'rest.js',
  headers: {
    accept: 'application/vnd.github.mercy-preview+json,application/vnd.github.scarlet-witch-preview+json'
  }
})

Custom requests

To send custom requests you can use the lower-level octokit.request() method

octokit.request('GET /')

The baseUrl, headers and other defaults are already set. For more information on the octokit.request() API see @octokit/request

All the endpoint methods such as octokit.repos.get() are aliases of octokit.request() with pre-bound default options. So you can use the @octokit/request API to get the default options or get generic request option to use with your preferred request library.

const defaultOptions = octokit.repos.get.endpoint.DEFAULTS
const requestOptions = octokit.repos.get.endpoint()

Pagination

All endpoint methods starting with .list* do not return all responses at once but instead return the first 30 items by default, see also GitHub’s REST API pagination documentation.

To automatically receive all results across all pages, you can use the octokit.paginate() method:

octokit.paginate('GET /repos/:owner/:repo/issues', { owner: 'octokit', repo: 'rest.js' })
  .then(issues => {
    // issues is an array of all issue objects
  })

octokit.paginate() accepts the same options as octokit.request(). You can optionally pass an additional function to map the results from each response. The map must return a new value, usually an array with mapped data.

octokit.paginate('GET /repos/:owner/:repo/issues', { owner: 'octokit', repo: 'rest.js' }, response => response.data.map(issue => issue.title))
  .then(issueTitles => {
    // issueTitles is now an array with the titles only
  })

To stop paginating early, you can call the done() function passed as 2nd argument to the response map function. Note that you still have to return the value you want to map the response to, otherwise the last response will be mapped to undefined.

octokit.paginate('GET /organizations', (response, done) => {
  if (response.data.find(issues => issue.body.includes('something'))) {
    done()
  }
  return response.data
})

To paginate responses for one of the registered endpoint methods such as octokit.issues.listForRepo() you can use the .endpoint.merge() method registered for all endpoint methods:

const options = octokit.issues.listForRepo.endpoint.merge({ owner: 'octokit', repo: 'rest.js' })
octokit.paginate(options)
  .then(issues => {
    // issues is an array of all issue objects
  })

If your runtime environment supports async iterators (such as Node 10+), you can iterate through each response

for await (const response of octokit.paginate.iterator(options)) {
  // do whatever you want with each response, break out of the loop, etc.
}

octokit.paginate.iterator() accepts the same options as octokit.paginate().

Hooks

You can customize Octokit’s request lifecycle with hooks. Available methods are

octokit.hook.before('request', async (options) => {
  validate(options)
})
octokit.hook.after('request', async (response, options) => {
  console.log(`${options.method} ${options.url}: ${response.status}`)
})
octokit.hook.error('request', async (error, options) => {
  if (error.status === 304) {
    return findInCache(error.headers.etag)
  }

  throw error
})
octokit.hook.wrap('request', async (request, options) => {
  // add logic before, after, catch errors or replace the request altogether
  return request(options)
})

See before-after-hook for more documentation on hooks.

Plugins

You can customize and extend Octokit’s functionality using plugins

// index.js
const MyOctokit = require('@octokit/request')
  .plugin([
    require('./lib/my-plugin'),
    require('octokit-plugin-example')
  ])

// lib/my-plugin.js
module.exports = (octokit, options = { greeting: 'Hello' }) => {
  // add a custom method
  octokit.helloWorld = () => console.log(`${options.greeting}, world!`)

  // hook into the request lifecycle
  octokit.hook.wrap('request', async (request, options) => {
    const time = Date.now()
    const response = await request(options)
    octokit.log.info(`${options.method} ${options.url} – ${response.status} in ${Date.now() - time}ms`)
    return response
  })
}

.plugin accepts a function or an array of functions.

We recommend using Octokit’s log methods to help users of your plugin with debugging.

You can add new methods to the octokit instance passed as the first argument to the plugin function. The 2nd argument is the options object passed to the constructor when instantiating the octokit client.

const octokit = new MyOctokit({ greeting: 'Hola' })
octokit.helloWorld()
// Hola, world!

Register custom endpoint methods

You can register custom endpoint methods such as octokit.repos.get() using the octokit.registerEndpoints(routes) method

octokit.registerEndpoints({
  foo: {
    bar: {
      method: 'PATCH',
      url: '/repos/:owner/:repo/foo',
      headers: {
        accept: 'application/vnd.github.foo-bar-preview+json'
      },
      params: {
        owner: {
          required: true,
          type: 'string'
        },
        repo: {
          required: true,
          type: 'string'
        },
        baz: {
          required: true,
          type: 'string',
          enum: [
            'qux',
            'quux',
            'quuz'
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
})

octokit.foo.bar({
  owner: 'octokit',
  repo: 'rest.js',
  baz: 'quz'
})

This is useful when you participate in private beta features and prefer the convenience of methods for the new endpoints instead of using octokit.request().

Throttling

When you send too many requests in too little time you will likely hit errors due to quotas.

In order to automatically throttle requests as recommended in the best practices for integrators, we recommend you install the @octokit/plugin-throttling plugin.

The throttle.onAbuseLimit and throttle.onRateLimit options are required. Return true to automatically retry the request after retryAfter seconds.

const Octokit = require('@octokit/rest')
  .plugin(require('@octokit/plugin-throttling'))

const octokit = new Octokit({
  auth: 'token ' + process.env.TOKEN,
  throttle: {
    onRateLimit: (retryAfter, options) => {
      octokit.log.warn(`Request quota exhausted for request ${options.method} ${options.url}`)

      if (options.request.retryCount === 0) { // only retries once
        console.log(`Retrying after ${retryAfter} seconds!`)
        return true
      }
    },
    onAbuseLimit: (retryAfter, options) => {
      // does not retry, only logs a warning
      octokit.log.warn(`Abuse detected for request ${options.method} ${options.url}`)
    }
  }
})

Automatic retries

Many common request errors can be easily remediated by retrying the request. We recommend installing the @octokit/plugin-retry plugin for Automatic retries in these cases

const Octokit = require('@octokit/rest')
  .plugin(require('@octokit/plugin-retry'))

const octokit = new Octokit()

// all requests sent with the `octokit` instance are now retried up to 3 times for recoverable errors.

Logging

Octokit has 4 built in log methods

1. octokit.log.debug(message[, additionalInfo])
2. octokit.log.info(message[, additionalInfo])
3. octokit.log.warn(message[, additionalInfo])
4. octokit.log.error(message[, additionalInfo])

They can be configured using the log client option. By default, octokit.log.debug() and octokit.log.info() are no-ops, while the other two call console.warn() and console.error() respectively.

This is useful if you build reusable plugins.

Debug

The simplest way to receive debug information is to set the log client option to console.

const octokit = require('@octokit/rest')({
  log: console
})

console.request('/')

This will log

request { method: 'GET',
  baseUrl: 'https://api.github.com',
  headers:
   { accept: 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
     'user-agent':
      'octokit.js/0.0.0-semantically-released Node.js/10.15.0 (macOS Mojave; x64)' },
  request: {},
  url: '/' }
GET / - 200 in 514ms

If you like to support a configurable log level, we recommend using the console-log-level module

const octokit = require('@octokit/rest')({
  log: require('console-log-level')({ level: 'info' })
})

console.request('/')

This will only log

GET / - 200 in 514ms

Contributing

We would love you to contribute to @octokit/rest, pull requests are very welcomed! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for more information.

Credits

@octokit/rest was originally created as node-github in 2012 by Mike de Boer from Cloud9 IDE, Inc. It was adopted and renamed by GitHub in 2017

LICENSE

MIT