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forgit api docs

Get repository content

GET
/repos/{owner}/{repo}/contents/{path}

Gets the contents of a file or directory in a repository. Specify the file path or directory with the path parameter. If you omit the path parameter, you will receive the contents of the repository’s root directory.

This endpoint supports the following custom media types. For more information, see “Media types.”

  • application/vnd.github.raw+json: Returns the raw file contents for files and symlinks.
  • application/vnd.github.html+json: Returns the file contents in HTML. Markup languages are rendered to HTML using GitHub’s open-source Markup library.
  • application/vnd.github.object+json: Returns the contents in a consistent object format regardless of the content type. For example, instead of an array of objects for a directory, the response will be an object with an entries attribute containing the array of objects.

If the content is a directory, the response will be an array of objects, one object for each item in the directory. When listing the contents of a directory, submodules have their “type” specified as “file”. Logically, the value should be “submodule”. This behavior exists for backwards compatibility purposes. In the next major version of the API, the type will be returned as “submodule”.

If the content is a symlink and the symlink’s target is a normal file in the repository, then the API responds with the content of the file. Otherwise, the API responds with an object describing the symlink itself.

If the content is a submodule, the submodule_git_url field identifies the location of the submodule repository, and the sha identifies a specific commit within the submodule repository. Git uses the given URL when cloning the submodule repository, and checks out the submodule at that specific commit. If the submodule repository is not hosted on github.com, the Git URLs (git_url and _links["git"]) and the github.com URLs (html_url and _links["html"]) will have null values.

Notes:

  • To get a repository’s contents recursively, you can recursively get the tree.
  • This API has an upper limit of 1,000 files for a directory. If you need to retrieve more files, use the Git Trees API.
  • Download URLs expire and are meant to be used just once. To ensure the download URL does not expire, please use the contents API to obtain a fresh download URL for each download.
  • If the requested file’s size is:
    • 1 MB or smaller: All features of this endpoint are supported.
    • Between 1-100 MB: Only the raw or object custom media types are supported. Both will work as normal, except that when using the object media type, the content field will be an empty string and the encoding field will be "none". To get the contents of these larger files, use the raw media type.
    • Greater than 100 MB: This endpoint is not supported.

API method documentation

Parameters

Section titled “ Parameters ”

Path Parameters

Section titled “ 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.

path
required
string

Path parameter

Query Parameters

Section titled “ Query Parameters ”
ref
string

The name of the commit/branch/tag. Default: the repository’s default branch.

Request Body

Section titled “ Request Body ”
Media type application/json
Examples

Content is a file using the object media type

Responses

Section titled “ Responses ”

200

Section titled “ 200 ”

Response

Content Tree

Content Tree

object
type
required
string
size
required
integer
name
required
string
path
required
string
sha
required
string
content
string
url
required
string format: uri
git_url
required
string format: uri
nullable
html_url
required
string format: uri
nullable
download_url
required
string format: uri
nullable
entries
Array<object>
object
type
required
string
size
required
integer
name
required
string
path
required
string
sha
required
string
url
required
string format: uri
git_url
required
string format: uri
nullable
html_url
required
string format: uri
nullable
download_url
required
string format: uri
nullable
_links
required
object
git
required
string format: uri
nullable
html
required
string format: uri
nullable
self
required
string format: uri
encoding
string
_links
required
object
git
required
string format: uri
nullable
html
required
string format: uri
nullable
self
required
string format: uri
Examples

Response if content is a file 

{
  "type": "file",
  "encoding": "base64",
  "size": 5362,
  "name": "README.md",
  "path": "README.md",
  "content": "IyBZb2dhIEJvmsgaW4gcHJvZ3Jlc3MhIEZlZWwgdAoKOndhcm5pbmc6IFdvc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\\nIHdvcmtmbG93Lgo=\\n",
  "sha": "3d21ec53a331a6f037a91c368710b99387d012c1",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb/contents/README.md",
  "git_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb/git/blobs/3d21ec53a331a6f037a91c368710b99387d012c1",
  "html_url": "https://github.com/octokit/octokit.rb/blob/master/README.md",
  "download_url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/octokit/octokit.rb/master/README.md",
  "_links": {
    "git": "https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb/git/blobs/3d21ec53a331a6f037a91c368710b99387d012c1",
    "self": "https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb/contents/README.md",
    "html": "https://github.com/octokit/octokit.rb/blob/master/README.md"
  }
}

302

Section titled “ 302 ”

Found

304

Section titled “ 304 ”

Not modified

403

Section titled “ 403 ”

Forbidden

Media type 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"
}

404

Section titled “ 404 ”

Resource not found

Media type 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"
}