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The REST API is now versioned. For more information, see "About API versioning."

REST API endpoints for Git trees

Use the REST API to interact with tree objects in your Git database on GitHub.

About Git trees

A Git tree object creates the hierarchy between files in a Git repository. You can use the Git tree object to create the relationship between directories and the files they contain. These endpoints allow you to read and write tree objects to your Git database on GitHub.

Create a tree

The tree creation API accepts nested entries. If you specify both a tree and a nested path modifying that tree, this endpoint will overwrite the contents of the tree with the new path contents, and create a new tree structure.

If you use this endpoint to add, delete, or modify the file contents in a tree, you will need to commit the tree and then update a branch to point to the commit. For more information see "Create a commit" and "Update a reference."

Returns an error if you try to delete a file that does not exist.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Create a tree"

This endpoint works with the following token types:

The token must have the following permission set:

  • contents:write

Parameters for "Create a tree"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
accept string

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
owner string Required

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

repo string Required

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

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
tree array of objects Required

Objects (of path, mode, type, and sha) specifying a tree structure.

Name, Type, Description
path string

The file referenced in the tree.

mode string

The file mode; one of 100644 for file (blob), 100755 for executable (blob), 040000 for subdirectory (tree), 160000 for submodule (commit), or 120000 for a blob that specifies the path of a symlink.

Can be one of: 100644, 100755, 040000, 160000, 120000

type string

Either blob, tree, or commit.

Can be one of: blob, tree, commit

sha string or null

The SHA1 checksum ID of the object in the tree. Also called tree.sha. If the value is null then the file will be deleted.

Note: Use either tree.sha or content to specify the contents of the entry. Using both tree.sha and content will return an error.

content string

The content you want this file to have. GitHub will write this blob out and use that SHA for this entry. Use either this, or tree.sha.

Note: Use either tree.sha or content to specify the contents of the entry. Using both tree.sha and content will return an error.

base_tree string

The SHA1 of an existing Git tree object which will be used as the base for the new tree. If provided, a new Git tree object will be created from entries in the Git tree object pointed to by base_tree and entries defined in the tree parameter. Entries defined in the tree parameter will overwrite items from base_tree with the same path. If you're creating new changes on a branch, then normally you'd set base_tree to the SHA1 of the Git tree object of the current latest commit on the branch you're working on. If not provided, GitHub will create a new Git tree object from only the entries defined in the tree parameter. If you create a new commit pointing to such a tree, then all files which were a part of the parent commit's tree and were not defined in the tree parameter will be listed as deleted by the new commit.

HTTP response status codes for "Create a tree"

Status codeDescription
201

Created

403

Forbidden

404

Resource not found

409

Conflict

422

Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Code samples for "Create a tree"

Request example

post/repos/{owner}/{repo}/git/trees
curl -L \ -X POST \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \ https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/git/trees \ -d '{"base_tree":"9fb037999f264ba9a7fc6274d15fa3ae2ab98312","tree":[{"path":"file.rb","mode":"100644","type":"blob","sha":"44b4fc6d56897b048c772eb4087f854f46256132"}]}'

Response

Status: 201
{ "sha": "cd8274d15fa3ae2ab983129fb037999f264ba9a7", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/trees/cd8274d15fa3ae2ab983129fb037999f264ba9a7", "tree": [ { "path": "file.rb", "mode": "100644", "type": "blob", "size": 132, "sha": "7c258a9869f33c1e1e1f74fbb32f07c86cb5a75b", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs/7c258a9869f33c1e1e1f74fbb32f07c86cb5a75b" } ], "truncated": true }

Get a tree

Returns a single tree using the SHA1 value or ref name for that tree.

If truncated is true in the response then the number of items in the tree array exceeded our maximum limit. If you need to fetch more items, use the non-recursive method of fetching trees, and fetch one sub-tree at a time.

Note: The limit for the tree array is 100,000 entries with a maximum size of 7 MB when using the recursive parameter.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Get a tree"

This endpoint works with the following token types:

The token must have the following permission set:

  • contents:read

This endpoint can be used without authentication or the aforementioned permissions if only public resources are requested.

Parameters for "Get a tree"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
accept string

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
owner string Required

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

repo string Required

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

tree_sha string Required

The SHA1 value or ref (branch or tag) name of the tree.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
recursive string

Setting this parameter to any value returns the objects or subtrees referenced by the tree specified in :tree_sha. For example, setting recursive to any of the following will enable returning objects or subtrees: 0, 1, "true", and "false". Omit this parameter to prevent recursively returning objects or subtrees.

HTTP response status codes for "Get a tree"

Status codeDescription
200

OK

404

Resource not found

409

Conflict

422

Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Code samples for "Get a tree"

Request examples

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/git/trees/{tree_sha}
curl -L \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \ https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/git/trees/TREE_SHA

Default response

Status: 200
{ "sha": "9fb037999f264ba9a7fc6274d15fa3ae2ab98312", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/trees/9fb037999f264ba9a7fc6274d15fa3ae2ab98312", "tree": [ { "path": "file.rb", "mode": "100644", "type": "blob", "size": 30, "sha": "44b4fc6d56897b048c772eb4087f854f46256132", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs/44b4fc6d56897b048c772eb4087f854f46256132" }, { "path": "subdir", "mode": "040000", "type": "tree", "sha": "f484d249c660418515fb01c2b9662073663c242e", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs/f484d249c660418515fb01c2b9662073663c242e" }, { "path": "exec_file", "mode": "100755", "type": "blob", "size": 75, "sha": "45b983be36b73c0788dc9cbcb76cbb80fc7bb057", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs/45b983be36b73c0788dc9cbcb76cbb80fc7bb057" } ], "truncated": false }