Get a commit

GET

/repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits/{ref}

Returns the contents of a single commit reference. You must have read access for the repository to use this endpoint.

[!NOTE] If there are more than 300 files in the commit diff and the default JSON media type is requested, the response will include pagination link headers for the remaining files, up to a limit of 3000 files. Each page contains the static commit information, and the only changes are to the file listing.

This endpoint supports the following custom media types. For more information, see “Media types.” Pagination query parameters are not supported for these media types.

application/vnd.github.diff: Returns the diff of the commit. Larger diffs may time out and return a 5xx status code.
application/vnd.github.patch: Returns the patch of the commit. Diffs with binary data will have no patch property. Larger diffs may time out and return a 5xx status code.
application/vnd.github.sha: Returns the commit’s SHA-1 hash. You can use this endpoint to check if a remote reference’s SHA-1 hash is the same as your local reference’s SHA-1 hash by providing the local SHA-1 reference as the ETag.

Signature verification object

The response will include a verification object that describes the result of verifying the commit’s signature. The following fields are included in the verification object:

Name	Type	Description
`verified`	`boolean`	Indicates whether GitHub considers the signature in this commit to be verified.
`reason`	`string`	The reason for verified value. Possible values and their meanings are enumerated in table below.
`signature`	`string`	The signature that was extracted from the commit.
`payload`	`string`	The value that was signed.
`verified_at`	`string`	The date the signature was verified by GitHub.

These are the possible values for reason in the verification object:

Value	Description
`expired_key`	The key that made the signature is expired.
`not_signing_key`	The “signing” flag is not among the usage flags in the GPG key that made the signature.
`gpgverify_error`	There was an error communicating with the signature verification service.
`gpgverify_unavailable`	The signature verification service is currently unavailable.
`unsigned`	The object does not include a signature.
`unknown_signature_type`	A non-PGP signature was found in the commit.
`no_user`	No user was associated with the `committer` email address in the commit.
`unverified_email`	The `committer` email address in the commit was associated with a user, but the email address is not verified on their account.
`bad_email`	The `committer` email address in the commit is not included in the identities of the PGP key that made the signature.
`unknown_key`	The key that made the signature has not been registered with any user’s account.
`malformed_signature`	There was an error parsing the signature.
`invalid`	The signature could not be cryptographically verified using the key whose key-id was found in the signature.
`valid`	None of the above errors applied, so the signature is considered to be verified.

API method documentation

Parameters

Path Parameters

owner

required

string

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repo

required

string

The name of the repository without the .git extension. The name is not case sensitive.

ref

required

string

The commit reference. Can be a commit SHA, branch name (heads/BRANCH_NAME), or tag name (tags/TAG_NAME). For more information, see “Git References” in the Git documentation.

Query Parameters

page

integer

default: 1

The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see “Using pagination in the REST API.”

per_page

integer

default: 30

The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see “Using pagination in the REST API.”

Responses

200

Response

Commit

Commit

object

url

required

string format: uri

sha

required

string

node_id

required

string

html_url

required

string format: uri

comments_url

required

string format: uri

commit

required

object

url

required

string format: uri

author

required

Git User

Metaproperties for Git author/committer information.

object

name

string

email

string

date

string format: date-time

committer

required

Git User

Metaproperties for Git author/committer information.

object

name

string

email

string

date

string format: date-time

message

required

string

comment_count

required

integer

tree

required

object

sha

required

string

url

required

string format: uri

verification

Verification

object

verified

required

boolean

reason

required

string

payload

required

string

nullable

signature

required

string

nullable

verified_at

required

string

nullable

author

required

One of:

Simple User
Empty Object

Simple User

A GitHub user.

object

name

string

nullable

email

string

nullable

login

required

string

required

integer format: int64

node_id

required

string

avatar_url

required

string format: uri

gravatar_id

required

string

nullable

url

required

string format: uri

html_url

required

string format: uri

followers_url

required

string format: uri

following_url

required

string

gists_url

required

string

starred_url

required

string

subscriptions_url

required

string format: uri

organizations_url

required

string format: uri

repos_url

required

string format: uri

events_url

required

string

received_events_url

required

string format: uri

type

required

string

site_admin

required

boolean

starred_at

string

user_view_type

string

committer

required

One of:

Simple User
Empty Object

Simple User

A GitHub user.

object

name

string

nullable

email

string

nullable

login

required

string

required

integer format: int64

node_id

required

string

avatar_url

required

string format: uri

gravatar_id

required

string

nullable

url

required

string format: uri

html_url

required

string format: uri

followers_url

required

string format: uri

following_url

required

string

gists_url

required

string

starred_url

required

string

subscriptions_url

required

string format: uri

organizations_url

required

string format: uri

repos_url

required

string format: uri

events_url

required

string

received_events_url

required

string format: uri

type

required

string

site_admin

required

boolean

starred_at

string

user_view_type

string

parents

required

Array<object>

object

sha

required

string

url

required

string format: uri

html_url

string format: uri

stats

object

additions

integer

deletions

integer

total

integer

files

Array<object>

Diff Entry

Diff Entry

object

sha

required

string

nullable

filename

required

string

status

required

string

Allowed values: added removed modified renamed copied changed unchanged

additions

required

integer

deletions

required

integer

changes

required

integer

blob_url

required

string format: uri

raw_url

required

string format: uri

contents_url

required

string format: uri

patch

string

previous_filename

string

Examples

default

{
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e",
  "sha": "6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e",
  "node_id": "MDY6Q29tbWl0NmRjYjA5YjViNTc4NzVmMzM0ZjYxYWViZWQ2OTVlMmU0MTkzZGI1ZQ==",
  "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World/commit/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e",
  "comments_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e/comments",
  "commit": {
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e",
    "author": {
      "name": "Monalisa Octocat",
      "email": "mona@github.com",
      "date": "2011-04-14T16:00:49Z"
    },
    "committer": {
      "name": "Monalisa Octocat",
      "email": "mona@github.com",
      "date": "2011-04-14T16:00:49Z"
    },
    "message": "Fix all the bugs",
    "tree": {
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/tree/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e",
      "sha": "6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e"
    },
    "comment_count": 0,
    "verification": {
      "verified": false,
      "reason": "unsigned",
      "signature": null,
      "payload": null,
      "verified_at": null
    }
  },
  "author": {
    "login": "octocat",
    "id": 1,
    "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
    "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
    "gravatar_id": "",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
    "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers",
    "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
    "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
    "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
    "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions",
    "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs",
    "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos",
    "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
    "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events",
    "type": "User",
    "site_admin": false
  },
  "committer": {
    "login": "octocat",
    "id": 1,
    "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
    "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
    "gravatar_id": "",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
    "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers",
    "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
    "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
    "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
    "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions",
    "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs",
    "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos",
    "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
    "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events",
    "type": "User",
    "site_admin": false
  },
  "parents": [
    {
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e",
      "sha": "6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e"
    }
  ],
  "stats": {
    "additions": 104,
    "deletions": 4,
    "total": 108
  },
  "files": [
    {
      "filename": "file1.txt",
      "additions": 10,
      "deletions": 2,
      "changes": 12,
      "status": "modified",
      "raw_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World/raw/7ca483543807a51b6079e54ac4cc392bc29ae284/file1.txt",
      "blob_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World/blob/7ca483543807a51b6079e54ac4cc392bc29ae284/file1.txt",
      "patch": "@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@\n....."
    }
  ]
}

string

Examples

default

diff --git a/testfile b/testfile
index 9bdeaeb..912c7ef 100644
--- a/testfile
+++ b/testfile
@@ -1 +1 @@
-test
+test change

string

Examples

default

From ac3282a2725be3b1d4979169a7a311c89066af1c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mona Lisa <87831417+monalisa@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2026 11:18:45 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Change 'test' to 'test change' in testfile

---
testfile | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/testfile b/testfile
index 9bdeaeb..912c7ef 100644
--- a/testfile
+++ b/testfile
@@ -1 +1 @@
-test
+test change

string

Examples

default

ac3282a2725be3b1d4979169a7a311c89066af1c

404

Resource not found

application/json

Basic Error

Basic Error

object

message

string

documentation_url

string

url

string

status

string

Example ^generated

{
  "message": "example",
  "documentation_url": "example",
  "url": "example",
  "status": "example"
}

409

Conflict

application/json

Basic Error

Basic Error

object

message

string

documentation_url

string

url

string

status

string

Example ^generated

{
  "message": "example",
  "documentation_url": "example",
  "url": "example",
  "status": "example"
}

422

Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

application/json

Validation Error

Validation Error

object

message

required

string

documentation_url

required

string

errors

Array<object>

object

resource

string

field

string

message

string

code

required

string

index

integer

value

One of:

string

nullable

Example ^generated

{
  "message": "example",
  "documentation_url": "example",
  "errors": [
    {
      "resource": "example",
      "field": "example",
      "message": "example",
      "code": "example",
      "index": 1,
      "value": [
        "example"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

500

Internal Error

application/json

Basic Error

Basic Error

object

message

string

documentation_url

string

url

string

status

string

Example ^generated

{
  "message": "example",
  "documentation_url": "example",
  "url": "example",
  "status": "example"
}

503

Service unavailable

application/json

object

code

string

message

string

documentation_url

string

Example ^generated

{
  "code": "example",
  "message": "example",
  "documentation_url": "example"
}

Get a commit

Parameters

Path Parameters

Query Parameters

Responses

200

Examples

Examples

Examples

Examples

404

Example generated

409

Example generated

422

Example generated

500

Example generated

503

Example generated

Example ^generated

Example ^generated

Example ^generated

Example ^generated

Example ^generated