curl -X PUT 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/import' \
  -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 '{
  "vcs_url": "example-vcs-url"
}'

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

> Start an import

## 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 PUT 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/import' \
  -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 '{
  "vcs_url": "example-vcs-url"
}'

## 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... |
| vcs_url | body | string | Yes | The URL of the originating repository. |
| vcs | body | string | No | The originating VCS type. Without this parameter, the import job will take ad... |
| vcs_username | body | string | No | If authentication is required, the username to provide to `vcs_url`. |
| vcs_password | body | string | No | If authentication is required, the password to provide to `vcs_url`. |
| tfvc_project | body | string | No | For a tfvc import, the name of the project that is being imported. |

## Response example
{"vcs":"string","use_lfs":true}

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

PUT

PUT /repos/{owner}/{repo}/import — GitHub API

Deprecated

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

GitHub API

Start an import

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
→ 349 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 PUT 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/import' \  -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 '{  "vcs_url": "example-vcs-url"}'

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.
vcs_url	body	string	Yes	The URL of the originating repository.
vcs	body	string	No	The originating VCS type. Without this parameter, the import job will take additional time to detect the VCS type before beginning the import. This detection step will be reflected in the response.
vcs_username	body	string	No	If authentication is required, the username to provide to `vcs_url`.
vcs_password	body	string	No	If authentication is required, the password to provide to `vcs_url`.
tfvc_project	body	string	No	For a tfvc import, the name of the project that is being imported.

Response 200 OK

{
  "vcs": "string",
  "use_lfs": true,
  "vcs_url": "string",
  "svc_root": "string",
  "tfvc_project": "string",
  "status": "auth",
  "status_text": "string",
  "failed_step": "string",
  "error_message": "string",
  "import_percent": 0,
  "commit_count": 0,
  "push_percent": 0,
  "has_large_files": true,
  "large_files_size": 0,
  "large_files_count": 0,
  "project_choices": [
    {
      "vcs": "string",
      "tfvc_project": "string",
      "human_name": "string"
    }
  ],
  "message": "string",
  "authors_count": 0,
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "html_url": "https://example.com",
  "authors_url": "https://example.com",
  "repository_url": "https://example.com",
  "svn_root": "string"
}

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