Merging

• Perform a merge

The Repo Merging API supports merging branches in a repository. This accomplishes essentially the same thing as merging one branch into another in a local repository and then pushing to GitHub. The benefit is that the merge is done on the server side and a local repository is not needed. This makes it more appropriate for automation and other tools where maintaining local repositories would be cumbersome and inefficient.

The authenticated user will be the author of any merges done through this endpoint.

Perform a merge

POST /repos/:owner/:repo/merges

Input

Name	Type	Description
base	string	Required. The name of the base branch that the head will be merged into.
head	string	Required. The head to merge. This can be a branch name or a commit SHA1.
commit_message	string	Commit message to use for the merge commit. If omitted, a default message will be used.

{
  "base": "master",
  "head": "cool_feature",
  "commit_message": "Shipped cool_feature!"
}

Successful Response (The resulting merge commit)

Status: 201 Created
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

{
  "sha": "7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
  "commit": {
    "author": {
      "name": "The Octocat",
      "date": "2012-03-06T15:06:50-08:00",
      "email": "octocat@nowhere.com"
    },
    "committer": {
      "name": "The Octocat",
      "date": "2012-03-06T15:06:50-08:00",
      "email": "octocat@nowhere.com"
    },
    "message": "Shipped cool_feature!",
    "tree": {
      "sha": "b4eecafa9be2f2006ce1b709d6857b07069b4608",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/trees/b4eecafa9be2f2006ce1b709d6857b07069b4608"
    },
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
    "comment_count": 0
  },
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
  "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World/commit/7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
  "comments_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d/comments",
  "author": {
    "login": "octocat",
    "id": 583231,
    "avatar_url": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ad39074b0584bc555d0417ae3e7d974?d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-140.png",
    "gravatar_id": "",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
    "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers",
    "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following",
    "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
    "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
    "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions",
    "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs",
    "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos",
    "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
    "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events",
    "type": "User"
  },
  "committer": {
    "login": "octocat",
    "id": 583231,
    "avatar_url": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ad39074b0584bc555d0417ae3e7d974?d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-140.png",
    "gravatar_id": "",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
    "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers",
    "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following",
    "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
    "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
    "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions",
    "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs",
    "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos",
    "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
    "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events",
    "type": "User"
  },
  "parents": [
    {
      "sha": "553c2077f0edc3d5dc5d17262f6aa498e69d6f8e",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/553c2077f0edc3d5dc5d17262f6aa498e69d6f8e"
    },
    {
      "sha": "762941318ee16e59dabbacb1b4049eec22f0d303",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/762941318ee16e59dabbacb1b4049eec22f0d303"
    }
  ]
}

No-op response (base already contains the head, nothing to merge)

Status: 204 No Content
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

Merge conflict response

Status: 409 Conflict
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

{
  "message": "Merge Conflict"
}

Missing base response

Status: 404 Not Found
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

{
  "message": "Base does not exist"
}

Missing head response

Status: 404 Not Found
X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4999

{
  "message": "Head does not exist"
}