curl -X GET 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/license?ref=example-ref' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \
  -H 'X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10'

# GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/license (GitHub API)
Base URL: https://api.github.com
Auth: Authorization; GitHub token; required.
Last verified: 2026-10-20

> Get the license for a repository

## 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/repos/example-owner/example-repo/license?ref=example-ref' \
  -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 |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 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... |
| ref | query | string | No | The Git reference for the results you want to list. The `ref` for a branch ca... |

## Response example
{"name":"string","path":"string"}

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

GET

GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/license — GitHub API

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

GitHub API

Get the license for a repository

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
→ 234 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/repos/example-owner/example-repo/license?ref=example-ref' \  -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
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.
ref	query	string	No	The Git reference for the results you want to list. The `ref` for a branch can be formatted either as `refs/heads/<branch name>` or simply `<branch name>`. To reference a pull request use `refs/pull/<number>/merge`.

Response 200 OK

{
  "name": "string",
  "path": "string",
  "sha": "string",
  "size": 0,
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "html_url": "https://example.com",
  "git_url": "https://example.com",
  "download_url": "https://example.com",
  "type": "string",
  "content": "string",
  "encoding": "string",
  "_links": {
    "git": "https://example.com",
    "html": "https://example.com",
    "self": "https://example.com"
  },
  "license": {
    "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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