Users - GitHub Docs

The Users API allows to get public and private information about the authenticated user.

Many of the resources on the users API provide a shortcut for getting information about the currently authenticated user. If a request URL does not include a {username} parameter then the response will be for the logged in user (and you must pass authentication information with your request). Additional private information, such as whether a user has two-factor authentication enabled, is included when authenticated through basic auth or OAuth with the user scope.

Get the authenticated user

If the authenticated user is authenticated through basic authentication or OAuth with the user scope, then the response lists public and private profile information.

If the authenticated user is authenticated through OAuth without the user scope, then the response lists only public profile information.

get /user

Code samples

Example

Shell

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/user

JavaScript @octokit/core.js

await octokit.request('GET /user', {})

GitHub CLI gh api

gh api \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  /user

Response with public and private profile information

Status: 200

{
  "login": "octocat",
  "id": 1,
  "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
  "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
  "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{/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": false,
  "name": "monalisa octocat",
  "company": "GitHub",
  "blog": "https://github.com/blog",
  "location": "San Francisco",
  "email": "octocat@github.com",
  "hireable": false,
  "bio": "There once was...",
  "twitter_username": "monatheoctocat",
  "public_repos": 2,
  "public_gists": 1,
  "followers": 20,
  "following": 0,
  "created_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "updated_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "private_gists": 81,
  "total_private_repos": 100,
  "owned_private_repos": 100,
  "disk_usage": 10000,
  "collaborators": 8,
  "two_factor_authentication": true,
  "plan": {
    "name": "Medium",
    "space": 400,
    "private_repos": 20,
    "collaborators": 0
  }
}

Example

Shell

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/user

JavaScript @octokit/core.js

await octokit.request('GET /user', {})

GitHub CLI gh api

gh api \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  /user

Response with public profile information

Status: 200

{
  "login": "octocat",
  "id": 1,
  "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
  "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
  "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{/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": false,
  "name": "monalisa octocat",
  "company": "GitHub",
  "blog": "https://github.com/blog",
  "location": "San Francisco",
  "email": "octocat@github.com",
  "hireable": false,
  "bio": "There once was...",
  "twitter_username": "monatheoctocat",
  "public_repos": 2,
  "public_gists": 1,
  "followers": 20,
  "following": 0,
  "created_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "updated_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z"
}

Status codes

HTTP Status Code	Description
`200`	OK
`304`	Not modified
`401`	Requires authentication
`403`	Forbidden

Update the authenticated user

Note: If your email is set to private and you send an email parameter as part of this request to update your profile, your privacy settings are still enforced: the email address will not be displayed on your public profile or via the API.

patch /user

Parameters

Name	Type	In	Description
`accept`	string	header	Setting to`application/vnd.github.v3+json` is recommended.
`name`	string	body	The new name of the user.
`email`	string	body	The publicly visible email address of the user.
`blog`	string	body	The new blog URL of the user.
`twitter_username`	string or null	body	The new Twitter username of the user.
`company`	string	body	The new company of the user.
`location`	string	body	The new location of the user.
`hireable`	boolean	body	The new hiring availability of the user.
`bio`	string	body	The new short biography of the user.

Code samples

Example

Shell

curl \
  -X PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/user

JavaScript @octokit/core.js

await octokit.request('PATCH /user', {})

GitHub CLI gh api

gh api \
  --method PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  /user

Response

Status: 200

{
  "login": "octocat",
  "id": 1,
  "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
  "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
  "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{/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": false,
  "name": "monalisa octocat",
  "company": "GitHub",
  "blog": "https://github.com/blog",
  "location": "San Francisco",
  "email": "octocat@github.com",
  "hireable": false,
  "bio": "There once was...",
  "twitter_username": "monatheoctocat",
  "public_repos": 2,
  "public_gists": 1,
  "followers": 20,
  "following": 0,
  "created_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "updated_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "private_gists": 81,
  "total_private_repos": 100,
  "owned_private_repos": 100,
  "disk_usage": 10000,
  "collaborators": 8,
  "two_factor_authentication": true,
  "plan": {
    "name": "Medium",
    "space": 400,
    "private_repos": 20,
    "collaborators": 0
  }
}

Status codes

HTTP Status Code	Description
`200`	OK
`304`	Not modified
`401`	Requires authentication
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found
`422`	Validation failed

List users

Lists all users, in the order that they signed up on GitHub. This list includes personal user accounts and organization accounts.

Note: Pagination is powered exclusively by the since parameter. Use the Link header to get the URL for the next page of users.

get /users

Parameters

Name	Type	In	Description
`accept`	string	header	Setting to`application/vnd.github.v3+json` is recommended.
`since`	integer	query	A user ID. Only return users with an ID greater than this ID.
`per_page`	integer	query	Results per page (max 100) Default: `30`

Code samples

Example

Shell

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/users

JavaScript @octokit/core.js

await octokit.request('GET /users', {})

GitHub CLI gh api

gh api \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  /users

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "login": "octocat",
    "id": 1,
    "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
    "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
    "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{/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": false
  }
]

Status codes

HTTP Status Code	Description
`200`	OK
`304`	Not modified

Notes

Works with GitHub Apps

Get a user

Provides publicly available information about someone with a GitHub account.

GitHub Apps with the Plan user permission can use this endpoint to retrieve information about a user's GitHub plan. The GitHub App must be authenticated as a user. See "Identifying and authorizing users for GitHub Apps" for details about authentication. For an example response, see 'Response with GitHub plan information' below"

The email key in the following response is the publicly visible email address from your GitHub profile page. When setting up your profile, you can select a primary email address to be “public” which provides an email entry for this endpoint. If you do not set a public email address for email, then it will have a value of null. You only see publicly visible email addresses when authenticated with GitHub. For more information, see Authentication.

The Emails API enables you to list all of your email addresses, and toggle a primary email to be visible publicly. For more information, see "Emails API".

get /users/{username}

Parameters

Name	Type	In	Description
`accept`	string	header	Setting to`application/vnd.github.v3+json` is recommended.
`username`	string	path

Code samples

Example

Shell

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/users/USERNAME

JavaScript @octokit/core.js

await octokit.request('GET /users/{username}', {
  username: 'USERNAME'
})

GitHub CLI gh api

gh api \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  /users/USERNAME

Default response

Status: 200

{
  "login": "octocat",
  "id": 1,
  "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
  "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
  "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{/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": false,
  "name": "monalisa octocat",
  "company": "GitHub",
  "blog": "https://github.com/blog",
  "location": "San Francisco",
  "email": "octocat@github.com",
  "hireable": false,
  "bio": "There once was...",
  "twitter_username": "monatheoctocat",
  "public_repos": 2,
  "public_gists": 1,
  "followers": 20,
  "following": 0,
  "created_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "updated_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z"
}

Example

Shell

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/users/USERNAME

JavaScript @octokit/core.js

await octokit.request('GET /users/{username}', {
  username: 'USERNAME'
})

GitHub CLI gh api

gh api \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  /users/USERNAME

Response with GitHub plan information

Status: 200

{
  "login": "octocat",
  "id": 1,
  "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
  "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
  "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{/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": false,
  "name": "monalisa octocat",
  "company": "GitHub",
  "blog": "https://github.com/blog",
  "location": "San Francisco",
  "email": "octocat@github.com",
  "hireable": false,
  "bio": "There once was...",
  "twitter_username": "monatheoctocat",
  "public_repos": 2,
  "public_gists": 1,
  "followers": 20,
  "following": 0,
  "created_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "updated_at": "2008-01-14T04:33:35Z",
  "plan": {
    "name": "pro",
    "space": 976562499,
    "collaborators": 0,
    "private_repos": 9999
  }
}

Status codes

HTTP Status Code	Description
`200`	OK
`404`	Resource not found

Notes

Works with GitHub Apps

Get contextual information for a user

Provides hovercard information when authenticated through basic auth or OAuth with the repo scope. You can find out more about someone in relation to their pull requests, issues, repositories, and organizations.

The subject_type and subject_id parameters provide context for the person's hovercard, which returns more information than without the parameters. For example, if you wanted to find out more about octocat who owns the Spoon-Knife repository via cURL, it would look like this:

curl -u username:token
  https://api.github.com/users/octocat/hovercard?subject_type=repository&subject_id=1300192

get /users/{username}/hovercard

Parameters

Name	Type	In	Description
`accept`	string	header	Setting to`application/vnd.github.v3+json` is recommended.
`username`	string	path
`subject_type`	string	query	Identifies which additional information you'd like to receive about the person's hovercard. Can be `organization`, `repository`, `issue`, `pull_request`. Required when using `subject_id`.
`subject_id`	string	query	Uses the ID for the `subject_type` you specified. Required when using `subject_type`.

Code samples

Example

Shell

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/users/USERNAME/hovercard

JavaScript @octokit/core.js

await octokit.request('GET /users/{username}/hovercard', {
  username: 'USERNAME'
})

GitHub CLI gh api

gh api \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  /users/USERNAME/hovercard

Response

Status: 200

{
  "contexts": [
    {
      "message": "Owns this repository",
      "octicon": "repo"
    }
  ]
}

Status codes

HTTP Status Code	Description
`200`	OK
`404`	Resource not found
`422`	Validation failed