Version-Isolated Client¶

The clientv1 package provides a stable, version-isolated wrapper around go-github. Use it to avoid breaking changes when go-github updates its major version.

Why Use clientv1?¶

The google/go-github library increments major versions frequently (v88 → v89 → v90...), requiring import path changes in all consuming code. This creates churn across your dependency tree.

The clientv1 package solves this by:

What Does "v1" Mean?¶

The "1" in clientv1 is the API version of the wrapper interface, not the go-github version it wraps.

clientv1 defines a stable Client interface (v1 of our API)
Internally it wraps whatever go-github version is current (v88, v89, v90...)
If we ever need breaking changes to the wrapper's interface, we'd create clientv2

Consumers import clientv1 and stay on it indefinitely, while gogithub updates the underlying go-github dependency without affecting them.

Benefits¶

The clientv1 package solves the version churn problem by:

Defining stable types (gogithub.User, gogithub.Repository, etc.) that don't change
Providing a Client interface that isolates consumers from go-github version details
Being the single upgrade point: update gogithub once, all consumers benefit

Installation¶

go get github.com/grokify/gogithub

Creating a Client¶

Standard (github.com)¶

client, err := clientv1.NewClient(ctx, "your-github-token")

GitHub Enterprise¶

client, err := clientv1.NewClientWithOptions(ctx, clientv1.ClientOptions{
    Token:     "your-token",
    BaseURL:   "https://github.mycompany.com/api/v3/",
    UploadURL: "https://github.mycompany.com/api/uploads/",
})

From Config¶

import "github.com/grokify/gogithub/config"

cfg := config.FromEnv()
client, err := cfg.NewClientV1(ctx)

Basic Usage¶

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"

    "github.com/grokify/gogithub"
    "github.com/grokify/gogithub/clientv1"
)

func main() {
    ctx := context.Background()

    // Create client with token
    client, err := clientv1.NewClient(ctx, "your-github-token")
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    // All methods return stable gogithub.* types
    user, err := client.GetAuthenticatedUser(ctx)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("Logged in as: %s\n", user.Login)

    // List repositories
    repos, err := client.ListUserRepos(ctx, user.Login)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    for _, repo := range repos {
        fmt.Printf("- %s (%s)\n", repo.FullName, repo.Language)
    }
}

Available Methods¶

Authentication¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetAuthenticatedUser(ctx)`	`*gogithub.User`	Get the current user
`GetUser(ctx, username)`	`*gogithub.User`	Get a specific user

Repositories¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetRepository(ctx, owner, repo)`	`*gogithub.Repository`	Get repository details
`ListUserRepos(ctx, user)`	`[]*gogithub.Repository`	List user's repositories (all types)
`ListUserReposWithOptions(ctx, user, opts)`	`[]*gogithub.Repository`	List user's repositories filtered by `ListUserReposOptions.Type` (`"all"`, `"owner"`, `"member"`)
`ListOrgRepos(ctx, org)`	`[]*gogithub.Repository`	List organization's repositories
`GetDefaultBranch(ctx, owner, repo)`	`string`	Get default branch name
`GetBranchProtection(ctx, owner, repo, branch)`	`*gogithub.BranchProtection`	Get branch protection settings, or `(nil, nil)` if unprotected
`ListLanguages(ctx, owner, repo)`	`map[string]int`	Languages used in a repository, mapped to bytes of code
`CreateFork(ctx, owner, repo, opts)`	`*gogithub.Repository`	Fork a repository

Content¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetFileContent(ctx, owner, repo, path, opts)`	`[]byte`	Get file content
`GetFileContentString(ctx, owner, repo, path, opts)`	`string`	Get file content as string
`GetFileContentWithSHA(ctx, owner, repo, path, opts)`	`[]byte, string`	Get file content and its SHA
`ListDirectory(ctx, owner, repo, path, opts)`	`[]*gogithub.FileContent`	List directory contents
`FileExists(ctx, owner, repo, path, opts)`	`bool`	Check if file exists
`CreateFile(ctx, owner, repo, path, opts)`	`*gogithub.CreateFileResult`	Create a new file
`UpdateFile(ctx, owner, repo, path, opts)`	`*gogithub.CreateFileResult`	Update an existing file (needs current SHA)
`DeleteFile(ctx, owner, repo, path, sha, msg, opts)`	`*gogithub.DeleteFileResult`	Delete a file (needs current SHA)

Git References¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetRef(ctx, owner, repo, ref)`	`*gogithub.Reference`	Get a git reference
`CreateRef(ctx, owner, repo, ref, sha)`	`*gogithub.Reference`	Create a git reference
`UpdateRef(ctx, owner, repo, ref, sha, force)`	`*gogithub.Reference`	Update a git reference
`DeleteRef(ctx, owner, repo, ref)`	`error`	Delete a git reference
`GetBranchSHA(ctx, owner, repo, branch)`	`string`	Get commit SHA for branch
`GetTagSHA(ctx, owner, repo, tag)`	`string`	Get commit SHA for tag
`ListBranches(ctx, owner, repo)`	`[]*gogithub.Branch`	List all branches

Tags¶

Method	Returns	Description
`ListTags(ctx, owner, repo)`	`[]*gogithub.Tag`	List all tags
`CreateTag(ctx, owner, repo, tag, sha, msg)`	`error`	Create an annotated tag

Commits¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetCommit(ctx, owner, repo, sha)`	`*gogithub.Commit`	Get commit details
`ListCommits(ctx, owner, repo, opts)`	`[]*gogithub.Commit`	List commits
`CreateCommit(ctx, owner, repo, opts)`	`*gogithub.Commit`	Create a commit

Git Trees and Blobs¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetTree(ctx, owner, repo, sha, recursive)`	`[]*gogithub.TreeNode`	Get a git tree by SHA
`CreateTree(ctx, owner, repo, base, entries)`	`string`	Create a git tree
`CreateBlob(ctx, owner, repo, content, encoding)`	`string`	Create a git blob

Together with GetRef, CreateCommit, and UpdateRef, these support building an atomic multi-file commit: create a blob per file, assemble a tree from those blobs, create a commit pointing at the new tree, then update the branch ref to the new commit.

Pull Requests¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetPullRequest(ctx, owner, repo, number)`	`*gogithub.PullRequest`	Get PR details
`ListPullRequests(ctx, owner, repo, opts)`	`[]*gogithub.PullRequest`	List pull requests
`CreatePullRequest(ctx, owner, repo, input)`	`*gogithub.PullRequest`	Create a new PR
`UpdatePullRequest(ctx, owner, repo, num, input)`	`*gogithub.PullRequest`	Update a PR
`MergePullRequest(ctx, owner, repo, num, opts)`	`*gogithub.MergeResult`	Merge a PR
`ListPullRequestFiles(ctx, owner, repo, num)`	`[]*gogithub.CommitFile`	List changed files
`GetPullRequestDiff(ctx, owner, repo, num)`	`string`	Get PR diff
`GetPullRequestPatch(ctx, owner, repo, num)`	`string`	Get PR patch

gogithub.PullRequest includes an Assignees field ([]*gogithub.User).

Pull Request Reviews¶

Method	Returns	Description
`CreatePullRequestReview(ctx, owner, repo, num, input)`	`*gogithub.PullRequestReview`	Create a review
`ListPullRequestReviews(ctx, owner, repo, num)`	`[]*gogithub.PullRequestReview`	List reviews
`RequestReviewers(ctx, owner, repo, num, users, teams)`	`*gogithub.PullRequest`	Request reviewers

Pull Request Comments¶

Method	Returns	Description
`CreatePullRequestComment(ctx, owner, repo, num, input)`	`*gogithub.PullRequestComment`	Create a diff comment
`ListPullRequestComments(ctx, owner, repo, num)`	`[]*gogithub.PullRequestComment`	List diff comments

Issues¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetIssue(ctx, owner, repo, number)`	`*gogithub.Issue`	Get issue details
`ListIssues(ctx, owner, repo, opts)`	`[]*gogithub.Issue`	List issues
`CreateIssue(ctx, owner, repo, input)`	`*gogithub.Issue`	Create a new issue
`UpdateIssue(ctx, owner, repo, number, input)`	`*gogithub.Issue`	Update an issue
`CreateIssueComment(ctx, owner, repo, num, body)`	`*gogithub.IssueComment`	Create an issue/PR comment
`EditIssueComment(ctx, owner, repo, commentID, body)`	`*gogithub.IssueComment`	Update an issue/PR comment's body
`ListIssueComments(ctx, owner, repo, num)`	`[]*gogithub.IssueComment`	List comments on an issue or PR

gogithub.Issue includes an IsPullRequest field, since GitHub's issue-listing endpoints also return pull requests — check it to filter PRs out of issue results.

Checks¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetCheckRun(ctx, owner, repo, id)`	`*gogithub.CheckRun`	Get a check run by ID
`ListCheckRuns(ctx, owner, repo, ref)`	`[]*gogithub.CheckRun`	List check runs for a ref
`ListCheckSuites(ctx, owner, repo, ref)`	`[]*gogithub.CheckSuite`	List check suites for a ref

Releases¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetRelease(ctx, owner, repo, id)`	`*gogithub.Release`	Get release by ID
`GetLatestRelease(ctx, owner, repo)`	`*gogithub.Release`	Get latest release
`GetReleaseByTag(ctx, owner, repo, tag)`	`*gogithub.Release`	Get release by tag
`ListReleases(ctx, owner, repo)`	`[]*gogithub.Release`	List all releases
`CreateRelease(ctx, owner, repo, input)`	`*gogithub.Release`	Create a release
`UpdateRelease(ctx, owner, repo, id, input)`	`*gogithub.Release`	Update a release
`DeleteRelease(ctx, owner, repo, id)`	`error`	Delete a release
`ListReleaseAssets(ctx, owner, repo, id)`	`[]*gogithub.ReleaseAsset`	List release assets

Search¶

Method	Returns	Description
`SearchIssues(ctx, query, opts)`	`*gogithub.IssueSearchResult`	Search issues/PRs
`SearchCode(ctx, query, opts)`	`*gogithub.CodeSearchResult`	Search code

Contributors¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetContributorStats(ctx, owner, repo)`	`[]*gogithub.ContributorStats`	Get contributor statistics

Rate Limits¶

Method	Returns	Description
`GetRateLimit(ctx)`	`*gogithub.RateLimit`	Core (non-search) API rate limit status for the authenticated client

For detecting rate-limit errors from any clientv1 call, use github.com/grokify/gogithub/errors:

import ghErrors "github.com/grokify/gogithub/errors"

if _, err := client.ListOrgRepos(ctx, org); err != nil {
    if ghErrors.IsRateLimitError(err) {
        // back off and retry
    }
}

IsRateLimitError unwraps the error chain, so it works on raw errors returned directly from a clientv1 call — it does not require pre-processing with errors.Translate.

Activity¶

Method	Returns	Description
`ListUserEvents(ctx, username, opts)`	`[]*gogithub.Event`	List activity events performed by a user (their public timeline)

GitHub's Events API only returns the most recent ~300 events regardless of pagination. Set opts.PublicOnly to false (the default) to include private events when authenticated as username, or true to restrict to public events.

Actions¶

Method	Returns	Description
`ListWorkflows(ctx, owner, repo)`	`[]*gogithub.Workflow`	List GitHub Actions workflows defined in a repository
`ListWorkflowRuns(ctx, owner, repo, workflowID, opts)`	`[]*gogithub.WorkflowRun`	List runs of a workflow, most recent first

Unlike most List* methods, ListWorkflowRuns does not paginate through all results — a long-lived workflow can accumulate thousands of runs, so it returns a single page controlled by ListWorkflowRunsOptions.PerPage/Page (GitHub's API defaults apply when opts is nil). To get only the latest run, pass &ListWorkflowRunsOptions{PerPage: 1} and take runs[0].

Stable Types¶

All types are defined in the root gogithub package:

import "github.com/grokify/gogithub"

// Core types
var user *gogithub.User
var repo *gogithub.Repository
var ref *gogithub.Reference
var branch *gogithub.Branch
var tag *gogithub.Tag
var commit *gogithub.Commit

// Pull requests
var pr *gogithub.PullRequest
var review *gogithub.PullRequestReview
var prComment *gogithub.PullRequestComment
var issueComment *gogithub.IssueComment
var commitFile *gogithub.CommitFile
var mergeResult *gogithub.MergeResult

// CI/CD
var checkRun *gogithub.CheckRun
var checkSuite *gogithub.CheckSuite

// Releases
var release *gogithub.Release
var asset *gogithub.ReleaseAsset

// Content
var fileContent *gogithub.FileContent
var contentOpts *gogithub.ContentOptions
var createFileResult *gogithub.CreateFileResult
var deleteFileResult *gogithub.DeleteFileResult

// Git data
var treeNode *gogithub.TreeNode

// Issues
var issue *gogithub.Issue

// Search
var searchResult *gogithub.IssueSearchResult
var codeSearchResult *gogithub.CodeSearchResult
var codeResult *gogithub.CodeResult

// Stats
var stats *gogithub.ContributorStats

// Activity
var event *gogithub.Event
var eventRepo *gogithub.EventRepo

// Branch protection
var branchProtection *gogithub.BranchProtection
var requiredStatusChecks *gogithub.RequiredStatusChecks
var prReviewsEnforcement *gogithub.PullRequestReviewsEnforcement

// Actions
var workflow *gogithub.Workflow
var workflowRun *gogithub.WorkflowRun

// Rate limits
var rateLimit *gogithub.RateLimit

Escape Hatch¶

For advanced use cases not yet wrapped, use Raw() to access the underlying go-github client:

import "github.com/google/go-github/v89/github"

// Get raw client (couples you to go-github version)
raw := client.Raw().(*github.Client)

// Use go-github directly
result, _, err := raw.Actions.ListWorkflowRunsByFileName(ctx, owner, repo, "ci.yml", nil)

Warning

Using Raw() couples your code to a specific go-github version. Prefer using the wrapped methods when possible.

Migration from Legacy Packages¶

Before (version-coupled)¶

import (
    "github.com/google/go-github/v89/github"
    "github.com/grokify/gogithub/auth"
    "github.com/grokify/gogithub/repo"
)

gh, _ := auth.NewGitHubClient(ctx, token)
ref, _, _ := gh.Git.GetRef(ctx, owner, repoName, "refs/heads/main")
sha := ref.GetObject().GetSHA()
content, _ := repo.GetFileContent(ctx, gh, owner, repoName, path, nil)

After (version-isolated)¶

import (
    "github.com/grokify/gogithub"
    "github.com/grokify/gogithub/clientv1"
)

client, _ := clientv1.NewClient(ctx, token)
sha, _ := client.GetBranchSHA(ctx, owner, repoName, "main")
content, _ := client.GetFileContent(ctx, owner, repoName, path, nil)

Best Practices¶

Use clientv1 for new code - Avoid direct go-github imports
Import types from root package - gogithub.User, not clientv1.User
Avoid Raw() when possible - Use wrapped methods to stay version-isolated
Check for new methods - When go-github adds features, we add wrapped methods