POST/repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/{branch}/rename

Rename a branch

Renames a branch in a repository.

[!NOTE] Although the API responds immediately, the branch rename process might take some extra time to complete in the background. You won't be able to push to the old branch name while the rename process is in progress. For more information, see "Renaming a branch".

The authenticated user must have push access to the branch. If the branch is the default branch, the authenticated user must also have admin or owner permissions.

In order to rename the default branch, fine-grained access tokens also need the administration:write repository permission.

RetriesRetries up to 2×, 500ms backoff, 30s timeout.

3 parameters · 1 body field

ownerstringrequired

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

repostringrequired

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

branchstringrequired

The name of the branch. Cannot contain wildcard characters. To use wildcard characters in branch names, use [the GraphQL API](https://docs.github.com/graphql).

new_namestringrequired

The new name of the branch.

4 status codes

201Response

namestringrequired

commitobjectrequired

Commit

_linksobjectrequired

protectedbooleanrequired

protectionobjectrequired

Branch Protection

protection_urlstringrequired

patternstringoptional

required_approving_review_countintegeroptional

403Forbidden

messagestringoptional

documentation_urlstringoptional

urlstringoptional

statusstringoptional

404Resource not found

messagestringoptional

documentation_urlstringoptional

urlstringoptional

statusstringoptional

422Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

messagestringrequired

documentation_urlstringrequired

errorsarray<object>optional

Error handling

A 403 is returned: Forbidden. A 404 is returned: Resource not found. A 422 is returned: Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

import { Client } from "acme-sdk";

const client = new Client({
  baseUrl: "https://api.acme.com",
  auth: { bearer: process.env.API_TOKEN },
  retry: {
    maxAttempts: 3,
    retryOn: [
      408,
      425,
      429,
      500,
      502,
      503,
      504,
    ],
    backoffMs: 500,
    maxBackoffMs: 8000,
  },
  timeoutMs: 30000,
});

const result = await client.rename.create({
  owner: "octocat",
  repo: "hello-world",
  branch: "main",
  newName: "Untitled",
});

{
  "name": "master",
  "commit": {
    "sha": "7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
    "node_id": "MDY6Q29tbWl0N2ZkMWE2MGIwMWY5MWIzMTRmNTk5NTVhNGU0ZDRlODBkOGVkZjExZA==",
    "commit": {
      "author": {
        "name": "The Octocat",
        "date": "2012-03-06T15:06:50-08:00",
        "email": "octocat@nowhere.com"
      },
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits/7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
      "message": "Merge pull request #6 from Spaceghost/patch-1\n\nNew line at end of file.",
      "tree": {
        "sha": "b4eecafa9be2f2006ce1b709d6857b07069b4608",
        "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/trees/b4eecafa9be2f2006ce1b709d6857b07069b4608"
      },
      "committer": {
        "name": "The Octocat",
        "date": "2012-03-06T15:06:50-08:00",
        "email": "octocat@nowhere.com"
      },
      "verification": {
        "verified": false,
        "reason": "unsigned",
        "signature": null,
        "payload": null,
        "verified_at": null
      },
      "comment_count": 0
    },
    "author": {
      "gravatar_id": "",
      "avatar_url": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ad39074b0584bc555d0417ae3e7d974?d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-140.png",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat",
      "id": 583231,
      "login": "octocat",
      "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
      "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers",
      "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
      "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",
      "site_admin": true
    },
    "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"
      }
    ],
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
    "committer": {
      "gravatar_id": "",
      "avatar_url": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7ad39074b0584bc555d0417ae3e7d974?d=https://a248.e.akamai.net/assets.github.com%2Fimages%2Fgravatars%2Fgravatar-140.png",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat",
      "id": 583231,
      "login": "octocat",
      "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
      "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers",
      "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
      "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",
      "site_admin": true
    },
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World/commit/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e",
    "comments_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits/6dcb09b5b57875f334f61aebed695e2e4193db5e/comments"
  },
  "_links": {
    "html": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World/tree/master",
    "self": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/branches/master"
  },
  "protected": true,
  "protection": {
    "required_status_checks": {
      "enforcement_level": "non_admins",
      "contexts": [
        "ci-test",
        "linter"
      ]
    }
  },
  "protection_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/hello-world/branches/master/protection"
}

Request

Response

Errors