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<h1 id="api-changes">API Changes</h1>

<div class="change" id="/changes/2012-10-17-org-members-redirection/">

<h2 class="title">

<a href="/changes/2012-10-17-org-members-redirection/">Organization Members Resource Changes</a>

<div class="meta">

<div class="who_when">

<img height="16" width="16" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f38112009dc16547051c8ac246cee443?s=20&amp;d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-user-420.png"><span class="author vcard fn">

<a href="https://github.com/pezra">pezra</a>

</span>

<span class="published">

October 17, 2012

</span>

</div>

<p>Requesting the <a href="/v3/orgs/members/index.html#members-list">member list</a> of an

organization of which you are not a member now redirects to the <a href="v3/orgs/members/index.html#public-members-list">public members

list</a>. Similarly, requests to

<a href="/v3/orgs/members/index.html#check-membership">membership check</a> resources of

an organization of which you are not a member are redirected to the equivalent

<a href="/v3/orgs/members/index.html#check-public-membership">public membership check</a>.

One exception to the latter case is that if you are checking about your own

membership the request is not redirected. You are always allowed to know what

organizations you belong to.</p>

<p>The changes where made to clarify the purpose of these various resources. The

<code>/orgs/:org/members</code> resources are intended for use by members of the

organization in question. The <code>/orgs/:org/public_members</code> resources are for

acquiring information about the public membership of organizations. If you are

not a member you are not allowed to see private membership information so you

should be using the public membership resources.</p>

<p>If you have any questions or feedback, please drop us a line at

<a href="mailto:support@github.com?subject=Org%20members%20API">support@github.com</a>.</p>

<div class="change" id="/changes/2012-10-14-rate-limit-changes/">

<h2 class="title">

<a href="/changes/2012-10-14-rate-limit-changes/">Rate limit changes for unauthenticated requests</a>

<div class="meta">

<div class="who_when">

<img height="16" width="16" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7e19cd5486b5d6dc1ef90e671ba52ae0?s=20&amp;d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-user-420.png"><span class="author vcard fn">

<a href="https://github.com/pengwynn">pengwynn</a>

</span>

<span class="published">

October 14, 2012

</span>

</div>

<p>To ensure a high quality of service for all API consumers, we’ve reduced the

default rate limit for unauthenticated requests. To enjoy the default rate

limit of 5,000 requests per hour, you’ll need to

<a href="http://developer.github.com/v3/#authentication">authenticate</a> via Basic Auth

or OAuth. Unauthenticated requests will be limited to 60 per hour unless you

<a href="http://developer.github.com/v3/#unauthenticated-rate-limited-requests">include your OAuth client and

secret</a>.</p>

<p>We’ll soon require all requests to include a valid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">User Agent

header</a>. Setting a

unique value for this header helps us identify requests and get in touch with

developers who are abusing the API. Most HTTP libraries, wrapper libraries, and

even cURL provide a valid header for you already and allow you to change it to

something unique to your application.</p>

<p>If you have any questions or feedback, please drop us a line at

<a href="mailto:support@github.com?subject=API%20Rate%20limit">support@github.com</a>.</p>

<div class="change" id="/changes/2012-9-28-auto-init-for-repositories/">

<h2 class="title">

<a href="/changes/2012-9-28-auto-init-for-repositories/">Initialize a repository when creating</a>

<div class="meta">

<div class="who_when">

<img height="16" width="16" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7e19cd5486b5d6dc1ef90e671ba52ae0?s=20&amp;d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-user-420.png"><span class="author vcard fn">

<a href="https://github.com/pengwynn">pengwynn</a>

</span>

<span class="published">

September 28, 2012

</span>

</div>

<p>Today we’ve made it easier to add commits to a repository via the GitHub API.

Until now, you could <a href="/v3/repos/#create">create a repository</a>, but you would

need to initialize it locally via your Git client before adding any commits via

the API.</p>

<p>Now you can optionally init a repository when it’s created by sending <code>true</code>

for the <code>auto_init</code> parameter:</p>

<pre class="terminal">

curl -i -u pengwynn \

-d '{"name": "create-repo-test", "auto_init": true}' \

https://api.github.com/user/repos

<p>The resulting repository will have a README stub and an initial commit.</p>

<p><img src="/images/posts/create-repo-init.png" alt="create repo screenshot"></p>

<h3 id="gitignore-templates">.gitignore templates</h3>

<p>Along with this change, you can set up your <code>.gitignore</code> template by passing

the basename of any template in the <a href="https://github.com/github/gitignore">GitHub gitignore templates

project</a>.</p>

<pre class="terminal">

curl -i -u pengwynn \

-d '{"name": "create-repo-test", "auto_init": true, \

"gitignore_template": "Haskell"}' \

https://api.github.com/user/repos

<p>As the <a href="/v3/repos/#create">docs point out</a>, the <code>gitignore_template</code> parameter

is ignored if <code>auto_init</code> is not present and <code>true</code>.</p>

<p>If you have any questions or feedback, drop us a line at

<a href="https://github.com/c">https://github.com/contact</a>, <a href="mailto:support@github.com">support@github.com</a>, or

<a href="https://twitter.com/githubapi">@GitHubAPI</a>.</p>

<div class="change" id="/changes/2012-9-5-watcher-api/">

<h2 class="title">

<a href="/changes/2012-9-5-watcher-api/">Upcoming Changes to Watcher and Star APIs</a>

<div class="meta">

<div class="who_when">

<img height="16" width="16" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/821395fe70906c8290df7f18ac4ac6cf?s=20&amp;d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-user-420.png"><span class="author vcard fn">

<a href="https://github.com/technoweenie">technoweenie</a>

</span>

<span class="published">

September 5, 2012

</span>

</div>

<p>We recently <a href="https://github.com/blog/1204-notifications-stars">changed the Watcher behavior</a> on GitHub. What

used to be known as “Watching” is now “Starring”. Starring is basically a way

to bookmark interesting repositories. Watching is a way to indicate that you

want to receive email or web notifications on a Repository.</p>

<p>This works well on GitHub.com, but poses a problem for the GitHub API. How do

we change this in a way that developers can gracefully upgrade their

applications? We’re currently looking at rolling out the changes in three

phases over an extended period of time.</p>

<h2 id="current-status">Current Status</h2>

<p>The current <a href="http://developer.github.com/v3/repos/starring/">Repository Starring</a> methods look like this:</p>

<code>/repos/:owner/:repo/watchers</code> - A list of users starring the repository.</li>

<li>

<code>/users/:user/watched</code> - A list of repositories that a user has starred.</li>

<li>

<code>/user/watched</code> - A list of repositories the current user has starred.</li>

<h2 id="phase-1-add-watchers-as-subscriptions">Phase 1: Add Watchers as Subscriptions</h2>

<p>This phase exposes Watchers as “Subscriptions”. This is to

keep from clashing with the legacy endpoints. This phase will happen

automatically and will not break your application until Phase 3 starts.</p>

<code>/repos/:owner/:repo/subscribers</code> - A list of users watching the repository.</li>

<li>

<code>/users/:user/subscriptions</code> - A list of repositories that a user is watching.</li>

<li>

<code>/user/subscriptions</code> - A list of repositories the current user is watching.</li>

<p>We’ll also add a copy of the legacy Watchers API in the new endpoint:</p>

<code>/repos/:owner/:repo/stargazers</code> - A list of users starring the repository.</li>

<li>

<code>/users/:user/starred</code> - A list of repositories that a user has starred.</li>

<li>

<code>/user/starred</code> - A list of repositories the current user has starred.</li>

<p>This is in place <em>now</em> with the current media type for the API:</p>

<pre><code>application/vnd.github.beta+json

<p>If you care about your application not breaking, make sure all outgoing API

requests pass that value for the “Accept” header. You should do this now. This

can be verified by checking the <code>X-GitHub-Media-Type</code> header on all API

responses.</p>

<pre><code># Accesses a user's starred repositories.

curl https://api.github.com/user/watched \

-H "Accept: application/vnd.github.beta+json"

<p>This Phase will be broken once Phase 3 starts. Phase 3 removes all support for

the “beta” media type, and makes the “v3” media type the implicit default

for API requests.</p>

<h2 id="phase-2-switch-watchers-api-endpoint">Phase 2: Switch <code>/watchers</code> API Endpoint</h2>

<p>The “watch” endpoints will now be a copy of the “subscription” endpoints. You

will have to use <code>/user/starred</code> to get a user’s starred repositories, not

<code>/user/watched</code>.</p>

<p>This requires a new media type value:</p>

<pre><code>application/vnd.github.v3+json

<p>This is a breaking change from Phase 1. We will release this change in an

experimental mode first, letting developers gracefully upgrade their

applications by specifying the new media value for the Accept header.</p>

<pre><code># Accesses a user's watched repositories.

curl https://api.github.com/user/watched \

-H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json"

<h2 id="phase-3-remove-subscribers-api-endpoint">Phase 3: Remove <code>/subscribers</code> API Endpoint.</h2>

<p>This phase involves disabling the subscription endpoints completely. At this

point, you should be using the starring endpoints for starred repositories, and

the watch endpoints for watched repositories. No date has been set yet, but we

expect this to be <em>3-6 months</em> after Phase 2 is in place. This should give

developers enough time for a smooth upgrade path. If they use popular API

wrappers, the work will likely mostly be done for them.</p>

<p>Keep on passing the “v3” media type in your application, until the API has

another breaking change to make. If you can’t make the deadline for Phase 3,

just set the “beta” media type until we shut that down completely. It’s likely

that we will keep the old “beta” media type active for another month, like

the <a href="https://github.com/blog/1090-github-api-moving-on">last time</a> we terminated

old API functionality.</p>

<p>We look forward to assisting you through this transition. Hit us up at

<a href="https://github.com/c">https://github.com/contact</a>, <a href="mailto:support@github.com">support@github.com</a>, or

<a href="https://twitter.com/githubapi">@GitHubAPI</a>.</p>

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