curl -X PATCH 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/labels/example-name' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \
  -H 'X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{}'

# PATCH /repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels/{name} (GitHub API)
Base URL: https://api.github.com
Auth: Authorization; GitHub token; required.
Request formats: application/json.
Last verified: 2026-10-20

> Update a label

## Critical Gotchas
* GitHub recommends an `Accept: application/vnd.github+json` header and an explicit `X-GitHub-Api-Version` header.
* Fine-grained tokens only authorize repositories and permissions selected when the token is created.

## cURL
curl -X PATCH 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/labels/example-name' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \
  -H 'X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{}'

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| owner | path | string | Yes | The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive. |
| repo | path | string | Yes | The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case... |
| name | path | string | Yes | path parameter name. |
| new_name | body | string | No | The new name of the label. Emoji can be added to label names, using either na... |
| color | body | string | No | The [hexadecimal color code](http://www.color-hex.com/) for the label, withou... |
| description | body | string | No | A short description of the label. Must be 100 characters or fewer. |
| archived | body | boolean | No | Whether to archive or unarchive the label. Archived labels cannot be added to... |

## Response example
{"id":208045946,"node_id":"MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY="}

---
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PATCH

PATCH /repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels/{name} — GitHub API

GitHub token (required); https://api.github.com

GitHub API

Update a label

Base URL: https://api.github.com
Auth: Authorization: Bearer <GITHUB_API_KEY>
Last verified: 2026-10-20 · upstream hash matched

Actions Try in browser→

Agents: curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" this URL
→ 342 tokens · Vary: Accept

Critical gotchas

GitHub recommends an Accept: application/vnd.github+json header and an explicit X-GitHub-Api-Version header.

Fine-grained tokens only authorize repositories and permissions selected when the token is created.

cURL

curl -X PATCH 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/labels/example-name' \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \  -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \  -H 'X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10' \  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \  -d '{}'

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
owner	path	string	Yes	The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
repo	path	string	Yes	The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
name	path	string	Yes	path parameter name.
new_name	body	string	No	The new name of the label. Emoji can be added to label names, using either native emoji or colon-style markup. For example, typing `:strawberry:` will render the emoji ![:strawberry:](https://github.githubassets.com/images/icons/emoji/unicode/1f353.png ":strawberry:"). For a full list of available emoji and codes, see "[Emoji cheat sheet](https://github.com/ikatyang/emoji-cheat-sheet)."
color	body	string	No	The [hexadecimal color code](http://www.color-hex.com/) for the label, without the leading `#`.
description	body	string	No	A short description of the label. Must be 100 characters or fewer.
archived	body	boolean	No	Whether to archive or unarchive the label. Archived labels cannot be added to issues or pull requests. For more information, see "[Archiving labels](https://docs.github.com/issues/organizing-your-work-with-labels/managing-labels)."

Response 200 OK

{
  "id": 208045946,
  "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repositories/42/labels/bug",
  "name": "bug",
  "description": "Something isn't working",
  "color": "FFFFFF",
  "default": true,
  "archived_at": "2023-01-01T12:00:00Z",
  "archived_by": {
    "name": "string",
    "email": "string",
    "login": "octocat",
    "id": 1,
    "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
    "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
    "gravatar_id": "41d064eb2195891e12d0413f63227ea7",
    "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": true,
    "starred_at": "\"2020-07-09T00:17:55Z\"",
    "user_view_type": "public"
  }
}

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