This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2022-10-12. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

We've recently moved some of the REST API documentation. If you can't find what you're looking for, you might try the Actions REST API page.

Management Console

The Management Console API helps you manage your GitHub Enterprise Server installation.

You must explicitly set the port number when making API calls to the Management Console. If TLS is enabled on your enterprise, the port number is 8443; otherwise, the port number is 8080.

If you don't want to provide a port number, you'll need to configure your tool to automatically follow redirects.

You may also need to add the -k flag when using curl, since GitHub Enterprise Server uses a self-signed certificate before you add your own TLS certificate.

Authentication

You need to pass your Management Console password as an authentication token to every Management Console API endpoint except /setup/api/start.

Use the api_key parameter to send this token with each request. For example:

$ curl -L 'https://HOSTNAME:ADMIN-PORT/setup/api?api_key=YOUR_PASSWORD'

You can also use standard HTTP authentication to send this token. For example:

$ curl -L -u "api_key:YOUR_PASSWORD" 'https://HOSTNAME:ADMIN-PORT/setup/api'

Get the configuration status

This endpoint allows you to check the status of the most recent configuration process:

Note that you may need to wait several seconds after you start a process before you can check its status.

The different statuses are:

Status	Description
`PENDING`	The job has not started yet
`CONFIGURING`	The job is running
`DONE`	The job has finished correctly
`FAILED`	The job has finished unexpectedly

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

get/setup/api/configcheck

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/configcheck

Response

Status: 200

{
  "status": "running",
  "progress": [
    {
      "status": "DONE",
      "key": "Appliance core components"
    },
    {
      "status": "DONE",
      "key": "GitHub utilities"
    },
    {
      "status": "DONE",
      "key": "GitHub applications"
    },
    {
      "status": "CONFIGURING",
      "key": "GitHub services"
    },
    {
      "status": "PENDING",
      "key": "Reloading appliance services"
    }
  ]
}

Start a configuration process

This endpoint allows you to start a configuration process at any time for your updated settings to take effect:

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`202`	Accepted

Code samples

post/setup/api/configure

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/configure

Response

Status: 202

Get the maintenance status

Check your installation's maintenance status:

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

get/setup/api/maintenance

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/maintenance

Response

Status: 200

{
  "status": "scheduled",
  "scheduled_time": "Tuesday, January 22 at 15:34 -0800",
  "connection_services": [
    {
      "name": "git operations",
      "number": 0
    },
    {
      "name": "mysql queries",
      "number": 233
    },
    {
      "name": "aqueduct jobs",
      "number": 34
    },
    {
      "name": "resque jobs",
      "number": 54
    }
  ]
}

Enable or disable maintenance mode

Note: The request body for this operation must be submitted as application/x-www-form-urlencoded data. You can submit a parameter value as a string, or you can use a tool such as curl to submit a parameter value as the contents of a text file. For more information, see the curl documentation.

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`maintenance`stringRequired A JSON string with the attributes `enabled` and `when`. The possible values for `enabled` are `true` and `false`. When it's `false`, the attribute `when` is ignored and the maintenance mode is turned off. `when` defines the time period when the maintenance was enabled. The possible values for `when` are `now` or any date parseable by mojombo/chronic.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

post/setup/api/maintenance

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/maintenance \
   --data-urlencode maintenance={"enabled":true, "when":"now"}

Response

Status: 200

{
  "status": "scheduled",
  "scheduled_time": "Tuesday, January 22 at 15:34 -0800",
  "connection_services": [
    {
      "name": "git operations",
      "number": 0
    },
    {
      "name": "mysql queries",
      "number": 233
    },
    {
      "name": "aqueduct jobs",
      "number": 34
    },
    {
      "name": "resque jobs",
      "number": 54
    }
  ]
}

Get settings

Gets the settings for your instance. To change settings, see the Set settings endpoint.

Note: You cannot retrieve the management console password with the Enterprise administration API.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

get/setup/api/settings

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/settings

Response

Status: 200

{
  "enterprise": {
    "private_mode": false,
    "public_pages": false,
    "subdomain_isolation": true,
    "signup_enabled": false,
    "github_hostname": "ghe.local",
    "identicons_host": "dotcom",
    "http_proxy": null,
    "auth_mode": "default",
    "expire_sessions": false,
    "admin_password": null,
    "configuration_id": 1401777404,
    "configuration_run_count": 4,
    "avatar": {
      "enabled": false,
      "uri": ""
    },
    "customer": {
      "name": "GitHub",
      "email": "stannis@themannis.biz",
      "uuid": "af6cac80-e4e1-012e-d822-1231380e52e9",
      "secret_key_data": "-----BEGIN PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----\nVersion: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)\n\nlQcYBE5TCgsBEACk4yHpUcapplebaumBMXYMiLF+nCQ0lxpx...\n-----END PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----\n",
      "public_key_data": "-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\nVersion: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)\n\nmI0ETqzZYgEEALSe6snowdenXyqvLfSQ34HWD6C7....\n-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\n"
    },
    "license": {
      "seats": 0,
      "evaluation": false,
      "perpetual": false,
      "unlimited_seating": true,
      "support_key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3N....",
      "ssh_allowed": true,
      "cluster_support": false,
      "expire_at": "2016-04-27T00:00:00-07:00"
    },
    "github_ssl": {
      "enabled": false,
      "cert": null,
      "key": null
    },
    "ldap": {
      "host": null,
      "port": 0,
      "base": [],
      "uid": null,
      "bind_dn": null,
      "password": null,
      "method": "Plain",
      "search_strategy": "detect",
      "user_groups": [],
      "admin_group": null,
      "virtual_attribute_enabled": false,
      "recursive_group_search": false,
      "posix_support": true,
      "user_sync_emails": false,
      "user_sync_keys": false,
      "user_sync_interval": 4,
      "team_sync_interval": 4,
      "sync_enabled": false,
      "reconciliation": {
        "user": null,
        "org": null
      },
      "profile": {
        "uid": "uid",
        "name": null,
        "mail": null,
        "key": null
      }
    },
    "cas": {
      "url": null
    },
    "saml": {
      "sso_url": null,
      "certificate": null,
      "certificate_path": null,
      "issuer": null,
      "idp_initiated_sso": false,
      "disable_admin_demote": false
    },
    "github_oauth": {
      "client_id": "12313412",
      "client_secret": "kj123131132",
      "organization_name": "Homestar Runners",
      "organization_team": "homestarrunners/characters"
    },
    "smtp": {
      "enabled": true,
      "address": "smtp.example.com",
      "authentication": "plain",
      "port": "1234",
      "domain": "blah",
      "username": "foo",
      "user_name": "mr_foo",
      "enable_starttls_auto": true,
      "password": "bar",
      "discard-to-noreply-address": true,
      "support_address": "enterprise@github.com",
      "support_address_type": "email",
      "noreply_address": "noreply@github.com"
    },
    "ntp": {
      "primary_server": "0.pool.ntp.org",
      "secondary_server": "1.pool.ntp.org"
    },
    "timezone": null,
    "snmp": {
      "enabled": false,
      "community": ""
    },
    "syslog": {
      "enabled": false,
      "server": null,
      "protocol_name": "udp"
    },
    "assets": null,
    "pages": {
      "enabled": true
    },
    "collectd": {
      "enabled": false,
      "server": null,
      "port": 0,
      "encryption": null,
      "username": null,
      "password": null
    },
    "mapping": {
      "enabled": true,
      "tileserver": null,
      "basemap": "company.map-qsz2zrvs",
      "token": null
    },
    "load_balancer": null
  },
  "run_list": [
    "recipe[enterprise-configure]"
  ]
}

Set settings

Applies settings on your instance. For a list of the available settings, see the Get settings endpoint.

Notes:

The request body for this operation must be submitted as application/x-www-form-urlencoded data. You can submit a parameter value as a string, or you can use a tool such as curl to submit a parameter value as the contents of a text file. For more information, see the curl documentation.
You cannot set the management console password with the Enterprise administration API. Use the ghe-set-password utility to change the management console password. For more information, see "Command-line utilities."

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`settings`stringRequired A JSON string with the new settings. Note that you only need to pass the specific settings you want to modify. For a list of the available settings, see the Get settings endpoint.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`204`	No Content

Code samples

put/setup/api/settings

curl \
  -X PUT \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/settings \
   --data-urlencode settings={ "enterprise": { "public_pages": true }}

Response

Status: 204

Get all authorized SSH keys

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

get/setup/api/settings/authorized-keys

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/settings/authorized-keys

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  },
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  },
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  }
]

Add an authorized SSH key

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`authorized_key`stringRequired The public SSH key.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`201`	Created

Code samples

post/setup/api/settings/authorized-keys

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/settings/authorized-keys \
   --data-urlencode authorized_key=ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAAAgQCssTL/Vtu/ODLTj0VtZoRAbvf7uiv5997GyDq0MoAZUjb5jmA5wYe2/wF6sFuhiZTnZoF1ZtCHunPp0hM/GHrn6VySBhNncx14YO8FPt1CIhEeRMSEjUK9cY3xAbS365oXY8vnUHJsS9+1tr/2bx/+4NJfcUt/Ezf1OR/0LStQXw==

Response

Status: 201

[
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  },
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  },
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  }
]

Remove an authorized SSH key

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`authorized_key`stringRequired The public SSH key.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

delete/setup/api/settings/authorized-keys

curl \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/settings/authorized-keys \
   --data-urlencode authorized_key=ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAAAgQCssTL/Vtu/ODLTj0VtZoRAbvf7uiv5997GyDq0MoAZUjb5jmA5wYe2/wF6sFuhiZTnZoF1ZtCHunPp0hM/GHrn6VySBhNncx14YO8FPt1CIhEeRMSEjUK9cY3xAbS365oXY8vnUHJsS9+1tr/2bx/+4NJfcUt/Ezf1OR/0LStQXw==

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  },
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  },
  {
    "key": "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAAB...",
    "pretty-print": "ssh-rsa 01:14:0f:f2:0f:e2:fe:e8:f4:72:62:af:75:f7:1a:88:3e:04:92:64"
  }
]

Create a GitHub license

When you boot a GitHub instance for the first time, you can use the following endpoint to upload a license.

Note that you need to POST to /setup/api/configure to start the actual configuration process.

When using this endpoint, your GitHub instance must have a password set. This can be accomplished two ways:

If you're working directly with the API before accessing the web interface, you must pass in the password parameter to set your password.
If you set up your instance via the web interface before accessing the API, your calls to this endpoint do not need the password parameter.

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`license`stringRequired The content of your .ghl license file.
`password`string You must provide a password only if you are uploading your license for the first time. If you previously set a password through the web interface, you don't need this parameter.
`settings`string An optional JSON string containing the installation settings. For a list of the available settings, see the Get settings endpoint.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`202`	Accepted

Code samples

post/setup/api/start

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/start

Response

Status: 202

Upgrade a license

This API upgrades your license and also triggers the configuration process.

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`license`string The content of your new .ghl license file.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`202`	Accepted

Code samples

post/setup/api/upgrade

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -u "api_key:your-password" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/setup/api/upgrade

Response

Status: 202