curl -X PATCH 'https://api.github.com/repos/example-owner/example-repo/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/10' \
  -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 '{
  "custom_pattern_version": "example-custom-pattern-version"
}'

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

> Update a repository custom pattern

## 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/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/10' \
  -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 '{
  "custom_pattern_version": "example-custom-pattern-version"
}'

## 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... |
| pattern_id | path | integer | Yes | The ID of the custom pattern. |
| custom_pattern_version | body | string | Yes | The version of the entity. This is used to confirm you're updating the curren... |
| pattern | body | string | No | The updated regular expression of the custom pattern. |
| start_delimiter | body | string | No | The updated start delimiter regex for the custom pattern. |
| end_delimiter | body | string | No | The updated end delimiter regex for the custom pattern. |
| must_match | body | string[] | No | Updated list of regexes that the secret must match. |
Other params: must_not_match

## Response example
{"id":0,"name":"string"}

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

PATCH

PATCH /repos/{owner}/{repo}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/{pattern_id} — GitHub API

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

GitHub API

Update a repository custom pattern

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
→ 370 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/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/10' \  -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 '{  "custom_pattern_version": "example-custom-pattern-version"}'

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.
pattern_id	path	integer	Yes	The ID of the custom pattern.
pattern	body	string	No	The updated regular expression of the custom pattern.
start_delimiter	body	string	No	The updated start delimiter regex for the custom pattern.
end_delimiter	body	string	No	The updated end delimiter regex for the custom pattern.
must_match	body	string[]	No	Updated list of regexes that the secret must match.
must_not_match	body	string[]	No	Updated list of regexes that the secret must not match.
custom_pattern_version	body	string	Yes	The version of the entity. This is used to confirm you're updating the current version of the entity and mitigate unintentionally overriding someone else's update.

Response 200 OK

{
  "id": 0,
  "name": "string",
  "pattern": "string",
  "slug": "string",
  "state": "published",
  "push_protection_enabled": true,
  "start_delimiter": "string",
  "end_delimiter": "string",
  "must_match": [
    "string"
  ],
  "must_not_match": [
    "string"
  ],
  "custom_pattern_version": "string",
  "created_at": "2026-09-03T00:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-03T00:00:00Z"
}

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