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

# GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/contents/{path} (GitHub API)
Base URL: https://api.github.com
Auth: Authorization; GitHub token; optional for public resources.
Last verified: 2026-10-20

> Get repository content

## 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/contents/example-path?ref=example-ref' \
  -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... |
| path | path | string | Yes | path parameter |
| ref | query | string | No | The name of the commit/branch/tag. Default: the repository’s default branch. |

## Response example
[{"type":"dir","size":0}]

---
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GET

GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/contents/{path} — GitHub API

GitHub token (optional for public resources); https://api.github.com

GitHub API

Get repository content

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
→ 236 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/contents/example-path?ref=example-ref' \  -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.
path	path	string	Yes	path parameter
ref	query	string	No	The name of the commit/branch/tag. Default: the repository’s default branch.

Response 200 OK

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

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