curl -X GET 'https://api.github.com/licenses?featured=true&per_page=30&page=1' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \
  -H 'X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10'

# GET /licenses (GitHub API)
Base URL: https://api.github.com
Auth: Authorization; GitHub token; required.
Last verified: 2026-10-20

> Get all commonly used licenses

## 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 GET 'https://api.github.com/licenses?featured=true&per_page=30&page=1' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \
  -H 'X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10'

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| featured | query | boolean | No | query parameter featured. |
| per_page | query | integer | No | The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see "[Using p... |
| page | query | integer | No | The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see "[Using pa... |

## Response example
[{"key":"mit","name":"MIT License"}]

---
Need an API key? Get one at https://github.com/settings/tokens

GET

GET /licenses — GitHub API

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

GitHub API

Get all commonly used licenses

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
→ 220 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 GET 'https://api.github.com/licenses?featured=true&per_page=30&page=1' \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \  -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \  -H 'X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10'

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
featured	query	boolean	No	query parameter featured.
per_page	query	integer	No	The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see "[Using pagination in the REST API](https://docs.github.com/rest/using-the-rest-api/using-pagination-in-the-rest-api)."
page	query	integer	No	The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see "[Using pagination in the REST API](https://docs.github.com/rest/using-the-rest-api/using-pagination-in-the-rest-api)."

Response 200 OK

[
  {
    "key": "mit",
    "name": "MIT License",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/licenses/mit",
    "spdx_id": "MIT",
    "node_id": "MDc6TGljZW5zZW1pdA==",
    "html_url": "https://example.com"
  }
]

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