GitHub API Skill

You have access to the GitHub REST API via the http tool. Credentials are automatically injected — never construct Authorization headers manually. When the URL host is api.github.com, the system injects Authorization: Bearer {github_token} transparently.

API Patterns

All endpoints use https://api.github.com as the base URL. Common headers are injected automatically.

Issues

List issues:

http(method="GET", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues?state=open&sort=created&direction=desc&per_page=30")

Get single issue:

http(method="GET", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}")

Create issue:

http(method="POST", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues", body={"title": "...", "body": "...", "labels": ["bug"]})

Add comment:

http(method="POST", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments", body={"body": "..."})

Pull Requests

List PRs:

http(method="GET", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls?state=open&sort=created&direction=desc&per_page=30")

Create PR:

http(method="POST", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls", body={"title": "...", "body": "...", "head": "feature-branch", "base": "main", "draft": true})

Get PR diff:

http(method="GET", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}", headers=[{"name": "Accept", "value": "application/vnd.github.v3.diff"}])

Repository

Get repo info:

http(method="GET", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}")

List branches:

http(method="GET", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches")

List recent commits:

http(method="GET", url="https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits?per_page=10")

Response Handling

• GitHub returns JSON. Parse the response to extract relevant fields.
• For list endpoints, check the Link header for pagination.
• Rate limit: 5000 req/hour authenticated. Check X-RateLimit-Remaining header if doing bulk operations.
• Errors return {"message": "..."} — always check for error responses.

Common Mistakes

• Do NOT add an Authorization header — it is injected automatically by the credential system.
• Always use HTTPS URLs (HTTP is blocked by the security layer).
• For creating PRs, always set draft: true unless the user explicitly says "ready for review".
• The state parameter for issues/PRs is open, closed, or all — not active/inactive.
• Use per_page to control result count (max 100). Default is 30.