Starring

Use the REST API to bookmark a repository.

About starring

You can use the REST API to star (bookmark) a repository. Stars are shown next to repositories to show an approximate level of interest. Stars have no effect on notifications or the activity feed. For more information, see "Saving repositories with stars."

Starring versus watching

In August 2012, we changed the way watching works on GitHub. Some API client applications may still be using the original "watcher" endpoints for accessing this data. You should now use the "star" endpoints instead (described below). For more information, see the REST API "Watching" documentation and the Watcher API changelog post.

In responses from the REST API, watchers, watchers_count, and stargazers_count correspond to the number of users that have starred a repository, whereas subscribers_count corresponds to the number of watchers.

Custom media types for starring

There is one supported custom media type for these endpoints. When you use this custom media type, you will receive a response with the starred_at timestamp property that indicates the time the star was created. The response also has a second property that includes the resource that is returned when the custom media type is not included. The property that contains the resource will be either user or repo.

application/vnd.github.star+json

For more information about media types, see "Media types."

List stargazers

Works with GitHub Apps

Lists the people that have starred the repository.

You can also find out when stars were created by passing the following custom media type via the Accept header: application/vnd.github.star+json.

Parameters for "List stargazers"

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
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). Default: `30`
`page` integer Page number of the results to fetch. Default: `1`

HTTP response status codes for "List stargazers"

Status code	Description
`200`	OK
`422`	Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Code samples for "List stargazers"

Select the example type

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/stargazers

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/repos/OWNER/REPO/stargazers

Default response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "login": "octocat",
    "id": 1,
    "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
    "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
    "gravatar_id": "",
    "url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
    "followers_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/followers",
    "following_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
    "gists_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
    "starred_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
    "subscriptions_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/subscriptions",
    "organizations_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/orgs",
    "repos_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/repos",
    "events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
    "received_events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/received_events",
    "type": "User",
    "site_admin": false
  }
]

List repositories starred by the authenticated user

Lists repositories the authenticated user has starred.

You can also find out when stars were created by passing the following custom media type via the Accept header: application/vnd.github.star+json.

Parameters for "List repositories starred by the authenticated user"

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

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`sort` string The property to sort the results by. `created` means when the repository was starred. `updated` means when the repository was last pushed to. Default: `created` Can be one of: `created`, `updated`
`direction` string The direction to sort the results by. Default: `desc` Can be one of: `asc`, `desc`
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). Default: `30`
`page` integer Page number of the results to fetch. Default: `1`

HTTP response status codes for "List repositories starred by the authenticated user"

Status code	Description
`200`	OK
`304`	Not modified
`401`	Requires authentication
`403`	Forbidden

Code samples for "List repositories starred by the authenticated user"

Select the example type

get/user/starred

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user/starred

Default response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 1296269,
    "node_id": "MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnkxMjk2MjY5",
    "name": "Hello-World",
    "full_name": "octocat/Hello-World",
    "owner": {
      "login": "octocat",
      "id": 1,
      "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
      "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
      "gravatar_id": "",
      "url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
      "followers_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/followers",
      "following_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
      "gists_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
      "starred_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
      "subscriptions_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/subscriptions",
      "organizations_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/orgs",
      "repos_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/repos",
      "events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
      "received_events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/received_events",
      "type": "User",
      "site_admin": false
    },
    "private": false,
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World",
    "description": "This your first repo!",
    "fork": false,
    "url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World",
    "archive_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/{archive_format}{/ref}",
    "assignees_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/assignees{/user}",
    "blobs_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs{/sha}",
    "branches_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/branches{/branch}",
    "collaborators_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/collaborators{/collaborator}",
    "comments_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/comments{/number}",
    "commits_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits{/sha}",
    "compare_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/compare/{base}...{head}",
    "contents_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contents/{+path}",
    "contributors_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contributors",
    "deployments_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/deployments",
    "downloads_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/downloads",
    "events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/events",
    "forks_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/forks",
    "git_commits_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits{/sha}",
    "git_refs_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs{/sha}",
    "git_tags_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/tags{/sha}",
    "git_url": "git:github.com/octocat/Hello-World.git",
    "issue_comment_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/comments{/number}",
    "issue_events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/events{/number}",
    "issues_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues{/number}",
    "keys_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/keys{/key_id}",
    "labels_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels{/name}",
    "languages_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/languages",
    "merges_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/merges",
    "milestones_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/milestones{/number}",
    "notifications_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/notifications{?since,all,participating}",
    "pulls_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/pulls{/number}",
    "releases_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/releases{/id}",
    "ssh_url": "git@github.com:octocat/Hello-World.git",
    "stargazers_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/stargazers",
    "statuses_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/statuses/{sha}",
    "subscribers_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscribers",
    "subscription_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscription",
    "tags_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/tags",
    "teams_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/teams",
    "trees_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/trees{/sha}",
    "clone_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World.git",
    "mirror_url": "git:git.example.com/octocat/Hello-World",
    "hooks_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/hooks",
    "svn_url": "https://svn.github.com/octocat/Hello-World",
    "homepage": "https://github.com",
    "language": null,
    "forks_count": 9,
    "stargazers_count": 80,
    "watchers_count": 80,
    "size": 108,
    "default_branch": "master",
    "open_issues_count": 0,
    "is_template": true,
    "topics": [
      "octocat",
      "atom",
      "electron",
      "api"
    ],
    "has_issues": true,
    "has_projects": true,
    "has_wiki": true,
    "has_pages": false,
    "has_downloads": true,
    "archived": false,
    "disabled": false,
    "visibility": "public",
    "pushed_at": "2011-01-26T19:06:43Z",
    "created_at": "2011-01-26T19:01:12Z",
    "updated_at": "2011-01-26T19:14:43Z",
    "permissions": {
      "admin": false,
      "push": false,
      "pull": true
    },
    "allow_rebase_merge": true,
    "template_repository": null,
    "temp_clone_token": "ABTLWHOULUVAXGTRYU7OC2876QJ2O",
    "allow_squash_merge": true,
    "allow_auto_merge": false,
    "delete_branch_on_merge": true,
    "allow_merge_commit": true,
    "subscribers_count": 42,
    "network_count": 0,
    "license": {
      "key": "mit",
      "name": "MIT License",
      "url": "https://HOSTNAME/licenses/mit",
      "spdx_id": "MIT",
      "node_id": "MDc6TGljZW5zZW1pdA==",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/licenses/mit"
    },
    "forks": 1,
    "open_issues": 1,
    "watchers": 1
  }
]

Check if a repository is starred by the authenticated user

Whether the authenticated user has starred the repository.

Parameters for "Check if a repository is starred by the authenticated user"

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.

HTTP response status codes for "Check if a repository is starred by the authenticated user"

Status code	Description
`204`	Response if this repository is starred by you
`304`	Not modified
`401`	Requires authentication
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Not Found if this repository is not starred by you

Code samples for "Check if a repository is starred by the authenticated user"

get/user/starred/{owner}/{repo}

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user/starred/OWNER/REPO

Response if this repository is starred by you

Status: 204

Star a repository for the authenticated user

Note that you'll need to set Content-Length to zero when calling out to this endpoint. For more information, see "HTTP method."

Parameters for "Star a repository for the authenticated user"

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.

HTTP response status codes for "Star a repository for the authenticated user"

Status code	Description
`204`	No Content
`304`	Not modified
`401`	Requires authentication
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found

Code samples for "Star a repository for the authenticated user"

put/user/starred/{owner}/{repo}

curl -L \
  -X PUT \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user/starred/OWNER/REPO

Response

Status: 204

Unstar a repository for the authenticated user

Unstar a repository that the authenticated user has previously starred.

Parameters for "Unstar a repository for the authenticated user"

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.

HTTP response status codes for "Unstar a repository for the authenticated user"

Status code	Description
`204`	No Content
`304`	Not modified
`401`	Requires authentication
`403`	Forbidden
`404`	Resource not found

Code samples for "Unstar a repository for the authenticated user"

delete/user/starred/{owner}/{repo}

curl -L \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user/starred/OWNER/REPO

Response

Status: 204

List repositories starred by a user

Works with GitHub Apps

Lists repositories a user has starred.

You can also find out when stars were created by passing the following custom media type via the Accept header: application/vnd.github.star+json.

Parameters for "List repositories starred by a user"

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

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`username` string Required The handle for the GitHub user account.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`sort` string The property to sort the results by. `created` means when the repository was starred. `updated` means when the repository was last pushed to. Default: `created` Can be one of: `created`, `updated`
`direction` string The direction to sort the results by. Default: `desc` Can be one of: `asc`, `desc`
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). Default: `30`
`page` integer Page number of the results to fetch. Default: `1`

HTTP response status codes for "List repositories starred by a user"

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples for "List repositories starred by a user"

get/users/{username}/starred

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/users/USERNAME/starred

Default response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 1296269,
    "node_id": "MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnkxMjk2MjY5",
    "name": "Hello-World",
    "full_name": "octocat/Hello-World",
    "owner": {
      "login": "octocat",
      "id": 1,
      "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
      "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
      "gravatar_id": "",
      "url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
      "followers_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/followers",
      "following_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
      "gists_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
      "starred_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
      "subscriptions_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/subscriptions",
      "organizations_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/orgs",
      "repos_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/repos",
      "events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
      "received_events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/users/octocat/received_events",
      "type": "User",
      "site_admin": false
    },
    "private": false,
    "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World",
    "description": "This your first repo!",
    "fork": false,
    "url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World",
    "archive_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/{archive_format}{/ref}",
    "assignees_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/assignees{/user}",
    "blobs_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs{/sha}",
    "branches_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/branches{/branch}",
    "collaborators_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/collaborators{/collaborator}",
    "comments_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/comments{/number}",
    "commits_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits{/sha}",
    "compare_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/compare/{base}...{head}",
    "contents_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contents/{+path}",
    "contributors_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contributors",
    "deployments_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/deployments",
    "downloads_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/downloads",
    "events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/events",
    "forks_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/forks",
    "git_commits_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits{/sha}",
    "git_refs_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs{/sha}",
    "git_tags_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/tags{/sha}",
    "git_url": "git:github.com/octocat/Hello-World.git",
    "issue_comment_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/comments{/number}",
    "issue_events_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/events{/number}",
    "issues_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues{/number}",
    "keys_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/keys{/key_id}",
    "labels_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels{/name}",
    "languages_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/languages",
    "merges_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/merges",
    "milestones_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/milestones{/number}",
    "notifications_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/notifications{?since,all,participating}",
    "pulls_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/pulls{/number}",
    "releases_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/releases{/id}",
    "ssh_url": "git@github.com:octocat/Hello-World.git",
    "stargazers_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/stargazers",
    "statuses_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/statuses/{sha}",
    "subscribers_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscribers",
    "subscription_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscription",
    "tags_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/tags",
    "teams_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/teams",
    "trees_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/trees{/sha}",
    "clone_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World.git",
    "mirror_url": "git:git.example.com/octocat/Hello-World",
    "hooks_url": "https://HOSTNAME/repos/octocat/Hello-World/hooks",
    "svn_url": "https://svn.github.com/octocat/Hello-World",
    "homepage": "https://github.com",
    "language": null,
    "forks_count": 9,
    "stargazers_count": 80,
    "watchers_count": 80,
    "size": 108,
    "default_branch": "master",
    "open_issues_count": 0,
    "is_template": true,
    "topics": [
      "octocat",
      "atom",
      "electron",
      "api"
    ],
    "has_issues": true,
    "has_projects": true,
    "has_wiki": true,
    "has_pages": false,
    "has_downloads": true,
    "archived": false,
    "disabled": false,
    "visibility": "public",
    "pushed_at": "2011-01-26T19:06:43Z",
    "created_at": "2011-01-26T19:01:12Z",
    "updated_at": "2011-01-26T19:14:43Z",
    "permissions": {
      "admin": false,
      "push": false,
      "pull": true
    },
    "allow_rebase_merge": true,
    "template_repository": null,
    "temp_clone_token": "ABTLWHOULUVAXGTRYU7OC2876QJ2O",
    "allow_squash_merge": true,
    "allow_auto_merge": false,
    "delete_branch_on_merge": true,
    "allow_merge_commit": true,
    "subscribers_count": 42,
    "network_count": 0,
    "license": {
      "key": "mit",
      "name": "MIT License",
      "url": "https://HOSTNAME/licenses/mit",
      "spdx_id": "MIT",
      "node_id": "MDc6TGljZW5zZW1pdA==",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/licenses/mit"
    },
    "forks": 1,
    "open_issues": 1,
    "watchers": 1
  }
]