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Get a repository README for a directory

GET
/repos/{owner}/{repo}/readme/{dir}

Gets the README from a repository 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. This is the default if you do not specify a media type.
  • application/vnd.github.html+json: Returns the README in HTML. Markup languages are rendered to HTML using GitHub’s open-source Markup library.

API method documentation

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.

dir
required
string

The alternate path to look for a README file

ref
string

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

Response

Media type application/json
Content File

Content File

object
type
required
string
Allowed values: file
encoding
required
string
size
required
integer
name
required
string
path
required
string
content
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
target
string
submodule_git_url
string
Examples
Example default
{
"type": "file",
"encoding": "base64",
"size": 5362,
"name": "README.md",
"path": "README.md",
"content": "encoded content ...",
"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"
}
}

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"
}

Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Media type 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"
]
}
]
}