REST API endpoints for secret scanning custom patterns

List organization custom patterns

Lists secret scanning custom patterns for an organization.

Personal access tokens (classic) need the read:org scope to use this endpoint.

Fine-grained access tokens for "List organization custom patterns"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Administration" organization permissions (read)

Parameters for "List organization custom patterns"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`org` string Required The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`state` string Filter custom patterns by state. When absent, returns patterns in all states. Can be one of: `published`, `unpublished`
`push_protection` string Filter custom patterns by whether push protection is enabled. When absent, returns patterns regardless of push protection status. Can be one of: `enabled`, `disabled`
`sort` string The property to sort the results by. Default: `created` Can be one of: `created`, `updated`, `name`
`direction` string The direction to sort the results by. Default: `desc` Can be one of: `asc`, `desc`
`page` integer The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `1`
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `30`

HTTP response status codes for "List organization custom patterns"

Status code	Description
`200`	OK
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found

Code samples for "List organization custom patterns"

Request example

get/orgs/{org}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Example Custom Pattern",
    "pattern": "[a-z]+_token_[0-9]+",
    "slug": "example-custom-pattern",
    "state": "published",
    "push_protection_enabled": true,
    "start_delimiter": null,
    "end_delimiter": null,
    "must_match": null,
    "must_not_match": null,
    "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
  },
  {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "Another Custom Pattern",
    "pattern": "prefix_[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}",
    "slug": "another-custom-pattern",
    "state": "published",
    "push_protection_enabled": false,
    "start_delimiter": "\\b",
    "end_delimiter": "\\b",
    "must_match": [
      "^prefix_prod"
    ],
    "must_not_match": [
      "test"
    ],
    "created_at": "2024-01-16T14:20:00Z",
    "updated_at": "2024-01-17T09:15:00Z"
  }
]

Bulk create organization custom patterns

Bulk creates secret scanning custom patterns for an organization.

Personal access tokens (classic) need the write:org scope to use this endpoint.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Bulk create organization custom patterns"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Administration" organization permissions (write)

Parameters for "Bulk create organization custom patterns"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`org` string Required The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

Name, Type, Description

patterns array of objects Required

The list of custom patterns to create.

Properties of patterns

Name, Type, Description
`name` string Required The name of the custom pattern.
`pattern` string Required The regular expression of the custom pattern.
`start_delimiter` string The start delimiter regex for the custom pattern. Defaults to `\A\|[^0-9A-Za-z]` when not specified. Default: `\A\|[^0-9A-Za-z]`
`end_delimiter` string The end delimiter regex for the custom pattern. Defaults to `\z\|[^0-9A-Za-z]` when not specified. Default: `\z\|[^0-9A-Za-z]`
`must_match` array of strings List of regexes that the secret must match.
`must_not_match` array of strings List of regexes that the secret must not match.

HTTP response status codes for "Bulk create organization custom patterns"

Status code	Description
`201`	All patterns created successfully.
`400`	Bad Request
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found
`422`	Validation failed for one or more patterns.

Code samples for "Bulk create organization custom patterns"

Request example

post/orgs/{org}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

curl -L \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG/secret-scanning/custom-patterns \
  -d '{"patterns":[{"name":"Example Custom Pattern","pattern":"[a-z]+_token_[0-9]+"},{"name":"Another Custom Pattern","pattern":"prefix_[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}","start_delimiter":"\\b","end_delimiter":"\\b","must_match":["^prefix_prod"],"must_not_match":["test"]}]}'

All patterns created successfully.

Status: 201

{
  "created_patterns": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Example Custom Pattern",
      "pattern": "[a-z]+_token_[0-9]+",
      "slug": "example-custom-pattern",
      "state": "unpublished",
      "push_protection_enabled": false,
      "start_delimiter": null,
      "end_delimiter": null,
      "must_match": null,
      "must_not_match": null,
      "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
      "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Another Custom Pattern",
      "pattern": "prefix_[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}",
      "slug": "another-custom-pattern",
      "state": "unpublished",
      "push_protection_enabled": false,
      "start_delimiter": "\\b",
      "end_delimiter": "\\b",
      "must_match": [
        "^prefix_prod"
      ],
      "must_not_match": [
        "test"
      ],
      "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
      "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Bulk delete organization custom patterns

Bulk deletes secret scanning custom patterns for an organization.

Personal access tokens (classic) need the write:org scope to use this endpoint.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Bulk delete organization custom patterns"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Administration" organization permissions (write)

Parameters for "Bulk delete organization custom patterns"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`org` string Required The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

Name, Type, Description

patterns array of objects Required

The list of custom patterns to delete.

Properties of patterns

Name, Type, Description
`pattern_id` integer Required The ID of the custom pattern to delete.
`custom_pattern_version` string or null 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.

post_delete_action string

What to do with alerts associated with the deleted patterns. delete_alerts permanently removes the alerts. resolve_alerts resolves the alerts as "pattern deleted". Defaults to delete_alerts when not specified.

Default: delete_alerts

Can be one of: delete_alerts, resolve_alerts

HTTP response status codes for "Bulk delete organization custom patterns"

Status code	Description
`204`	All patterns deleted successfully.
`400`	Bad Request
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found
`412`	Precondition Failed

Code samples for "Bulk delete organization custom patterns"

Request example

delete/orgs/{org}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

curl -L \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG/secret-scanning/custom-patterns \
  -d '{"patterns":[{"pattern_id":2,"custom_pattern_version":"0ujsswThIGTUYm2K8FjOOfXtY1K"}]}'

All patterns deleted successfully.

Status: 204

Update an organization custom pattern

Updates a secret scanning custom pattern for an organization.

Personal access tokens (classic) need the write:org scope to use this endpoint.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Update an organization custom pattern"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Administration" organization permissions (write)

Parameters for "Update an organization custom pattern"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`org` string Required The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.
`pattern_id` integer Required The ID of the custom pattern.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`pattern` string The updated regular expression of the custom pattern.
`start_delimiter` string The updated start delimiter regex for the custom pattern.
`end_delimiter` string The updated end delimiter regex for the custom pattern.
`must_match` array of strings Updated list of regexes that the secret must match.
`must_not_match` array of strings Updated list of regexes that the secret must not match.
`custom_pattern_version` string or null Required 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.

HTTP response status codes for "Update an organization custom pattern"

Status code	Description
`200`	Pattern updated successfully.
`400`	Bad Request
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found
`412`	Precondition Failed
`422`	Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Code samples for "Update an organization custom pattern"

Request example

patch/orgs/{org}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/{pattern_id}

curl -L \
  -X PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/PATTERN_ID \
  -d '{"pattern":"updated_secret_[0-9A-Z]{16}","start_delimiter":"[^0-9A-Za-z]","end_delimiter":"[^0-9A-Za-z]","must_match":["updated_secret_[0-9]{2}*"],"must_not_match":["updated_secret_1234567890ABCDEF"],"custom_pattern_version":"0ujsswThIGTUYm2K8FjOOfXtY1K"}'

Pattern updated successfully.

Status: 200

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Example Custom Pattern",
  "pattern": "updated_secret_[0-9A-Z]{16}",
  "slug": "example_custom_pattern",
  "state": "published",
  "push_protection_enabled": true,
  "start_delimiter": "[^0-9A-Za-z]",
  "end_delimiter": "[^0-9A-Za-z]",
  "must_match": [
    "updated_secret_[0-9]{2}*"
  ],
  "must_not_match": [
    "updated_secret_1234567890ABCDEF"
  ],
  "custom_pattern_version": "0ujsswThIGTUYm2K8FjOOfXtY1K",
  "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2024-06-01T12:00:00Z"
}

List repository custom patterns

Lists secret scanning custom patterns for a repository.

OAuth app tokens and personal access tokens (classic) need the repo or security_events scope to use this endpoint. If this endpoint is only used with public repositories, the token can use the public_repo scope instead.

Fine-grained access tokens for "List repository custom patterns"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Secret scanning alerts" repository permissions (read)

Parameters for "List repository custom patterns"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`state` string Filter custom patterns by state. When absent, returns patterns in all states. Can be one of: `published`, `unpublished`
`push_protection` string Filter custom patterns by whether push protection is enabled. When absent, returns patterns regardless of push protection status. Can be one of: `enabled`, `disabled`
`sort` string The property to sort the results by. Default: `created` Can be one of: `created`, `updated`, `name`
`direction` string The direction to sort the results by. Default: `desc` Can be one of: `asc`, `desc`
`page` integer The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `1`
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `30`

HTTP response status codes for "List repository custom patterns"

Status code	Description
`200`	OK
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found

Code samples for "List repository custom patterns"

Request example

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Example Custom Pattern",
    "pattern": "[a-z]+_token_[0-9]+",
    "slug": "example-custom-pattern",
    "state": "published",
    "push_protection_enabled": true,
    "start_delimiter": null,
    "end_delimiter": null,
    "must_match": null,
    "must_not_match": null,
    "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
  },
  {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "Another Custom Pattern",
    "pattern": "prefix_[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}",
    "slug": "another-custom-pattern",
    "state": "published",
    "push_protection_enabled": false,
    "start_delimiter": "\\b",
    "end_delimiter": "\\b",
    "must_match": [
      "^prefix_prod"
    ],
    "must_not_match": [
      "test"
    ],
    "created_at": "2024-01-16T14:20:00Z",
    "updated_at": "2024-01-17T09:15:00Z"
  }
]

Bulk create repository custom patterns

Bulk creates secret scanning custom patterns for a repository.

OAuth app tokens and personal access tokens (classic) need the repo or security_events scope to use this endpoint. If this endpoint is only used with public repositories, the token can use the public_repo scope instead.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Bulk create repository custom patterns"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Secret scanning alerts" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Bulk create repository custom patterns"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.

Name, Type, Description

patterns array of objects Required

The list of custom patterns to create.

Properties of patterns

Name, Type, Description
`name` string Required The name of the custom pattern.
`pattern` string Required The regular expression of the custom pattern.
`start_delimiter` string The start delimiter regex for the custom pattern. Defaults to `\A\|[^0-9A-Za-z]` when not specified. Default: `\A\|[^0-9A-Za-z]`
`end_delimiter` string The end delimiter regex for the custom pattern. Defaults to `\z\|[^0-9A-Za-z]` when not specified. Default: `\z\|[^0-9A-Za-z]`
`must_match` array of strings List of regexes that the secret must match.
`must_not_match` array of strings List of regexes that the secret must not match.

HTTP response status codes for "Bulk create repository custom patterns"

Status code	Description
`201`	All patterns created successfully.
`400`	Bad Request
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found
`422`	Validation failed for one or more patterns.

Code samples for "Bulk create repository custom patterns"

Request example

post/repos/{owner}/{repo}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

curl -L \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/secret-scanning/custom-patterns \
  -d '{"patterns":[{"name":"Example Custom Pattern","pattern":"[a-z]+_token_[0-9]+"},{"name":"Another Custom Pattern","pattern":"prefix_[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}","start_delimiter":"\\b","end_delimiter":"\\b","must_match":["^prefix_prod"],"must_not_match":["test"]}]}'

All patterns created successfully.

Status: 201

{
  "created_patterns": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Example Custom Pattern",
      "pattern": "[a-z]+_token_[0-9]+",
      "slug": "example-custom-pattern",
      "state": "unpublished",
      "push_protection_enabled": false,
      "start_delimiter": null,
      "end_delimiter": null,
      "must_match": null,
      "must_not_match": null,
      "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
      "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Another Custom Pattern",
      "pattern": "prefix_[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}",
      "slug": "another-custom-pattern",
      "state": "unpublished",
      "push_protection_enabled": false,
      "start_delimiter": "\\b",
      "end_delimiter": "\\b",
      "must_match": [
        "^prefix_prod"
      ],
      "must_not_match": [
        "test"
      ],
      "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
      "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Bulk delete repository custom patterns

Bulk deletes secret scanning custom patterns for a repository.

OAuth app tokens and personal access tokens (classic) need the repo or security_events scope to use this endpoint. If this endpoint is only used with public repositories, the token can use the public_repo scope instead.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Bulk delete repository custom patterns"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Secret scanning alerts" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Bulk delete repository custom patterns"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.

Name, Type, Description

patterns array of objects Required

The list of custom patterns to delete.

Properties of patterns

Name, Type, Description
`pattern_id` integer Required The ID of the custom pattern to delete.
`custom_pattern_version` string or null 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.

post_delete_action string

What to do with alerts associated with the deleted patterns. delete_alerts permanently removes the alerts. resolve_alerts resolves the alerts as "pattern deleted". Defaults to delete_alerts when not specified.

Default: delete_alerts

Can be one of: delete_alerts, resolve_alerts

HTTP response status codes for "Bulk delete repository custom patterns"

Status code	Description
`204`	All patterns deleted successfully.
`400`	Bad Request
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found
`412`	Precondition Failed

Code samples for "Bulk delete repository custom patterns"

Request example

delete/repos/{owner}/{repo}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns

curl -L \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/secret-scanning/custom-patterns \
  -d '{"patterns":[{"pattern_id":2,"custom_pattern_version":"0ujsswThIGTUYm2K8FjOOfXtY1K"}]}'

All patterns deleted successfully.

Status: 204

Update a repository custom pattern

Updates a secret scanning custom pattern for a repository.

OAuth app tokens and personal access tokens (classic) need the repo or security_events scope to use this endpoint. If this endpoint is only used with public repositories, the token can use the public_repo scope instead.

Fine-grained access tokens for "Update a repository custom pattern"

This endpoint works with the following fine-grained token types:

The fine-grained token must have the following permission set:

"Secret scanning alerts" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Update a repository custom pattern"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`pattern_id` integer Required The ID of the custom pattern.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`pattern` string The updated regular expression of the custom pattern.
`start_delimiter` string The updated start delimiter regex for the custom pattern.
`end_delimiter` string The updated end delimiter regex for the custom pattern.
`must_match` array of strings Updated list of regexes that the secret must match.
`must_not_match` array of strings Updated list of regexes that the secret must not match.
`custom_pattern_version` string or null Required 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.

HTTP response status codes for "Update a repository custom pattern"

Status code	Description
`200`	Pattern updated successfully.
`400`	Bad Request
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found
`412`	Precondition Failed
`422`	Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Code samples for "Update a repository custom pattern"

Request example

patch/repos/{owner}/{repo}/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/{pattern_id}

curl -L \
  -X PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/secret-scanning/custom-patterns/PATTERN_ID \
  -d '{"pattern":"updated_secret_[0-9A-Z]{16}","start_delimiter":"[^0-9A-Za-z]","end_delimiter":"[^0-9A-Za-z]","must_match":["updated_secret_[0-9]{2}*"],"must_not_match":["updated_secret_1234567890ABCDEF"],"custom_pattern_version":"0ujsswThIGTUYm2K8FjOOfXtY1K"}'

Pattern updated successfully.

Status: 200

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Example Custom Pattern",
  "pattern": "updated_secret_[0-9A-Z]{16}",
  "slug": "example_custom_pattern",
  "state": "published",
  "push_protection_enabled": true,
  "start_delimiter": "[^0-9A-Za-z]",
  "end_delimiter": "[^0-9A-Za-z]",
  "must_match": [
    "updated_secret_[0-9]{2}*"
  ],
  "must_not_match": [
    "updated_secret_1234567890ABCDEF"
  ],
  "custom_pattern_version": "0ujsswThIGTUYm2K8FjOOfXtY1K",
  "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2024-06-01T12:00:00Z"
}