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This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2023-01-18. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

We've recently moved some of the REST API documentation. If you can't find what you're looking for, you might try the new Branches, Collaborators, Commits, Deploy Keys, Deployments, GitHub Pages, Releases, Metrics, Webhooks REST API pages.

Deployments

Use the REST API to create and delete deployments and deployment environments.

About deployments

Deployments are requests to deploy a specific ref (branch, SHA, tag). GitHub dispatches a deployment event that external services can listen for and act on when new deployments are created. Deployments enable developers and organizations to build loosely coupled tooling around deployments, without having to worry about the implementation details of delivering different types of applications (e.g., web, native).

Deployment statuses allow external services to mark deployments with an error, failure, pending, in_progress, queued, or success state that systems listening to deployment_status events can consume.

Deployment statuses can also include an optional description and log_url, which are highly recommended because they make deployment statuses more useful. The log_url is the full URL to the deployment output, and the description is a high-level summary of what happened with the deployment.

GitHub dispatches deployment and deployment_status events when new deployments and deployment statuses are created. These events allow third-party integrations to receive and respond to deployment requests, and update the status of a deployment as progress is made.

Below is a simple sequence diagram for how these interactions would work.

+---------+             +--------+            +-----------+        +-------------+
| Tooling |             | GitHub |            | 3rd Party |        | Your Server |
+---------+             +--------+            +-----------+        +-------------+
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |  Create Deployment   |                       |                     |
     |--------------------->|                       |                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |  Deployment Created  |                       |                     |
     |<---------------------|                       |                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |   Deployment Event    |                     |
     |                      |---------------------->|                     |
     |                      |                       |     SSH+Deploys     |
     |                      |                       |-------------------->|
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |   Deployment Status   |                     |
     |                      |<----------------------|                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |                       |   Deploy Completed  |
     |                      |                       |<--------------------|
     |                      |                       |                     |
     |                      |   Deployment Status   |                     |
     |                      |<----------------------|                     |
     |                      |                       |                     |

Keep in mind that GitHub is never actually accessing your servers. It's up to your third-party integration to interact with deployment events. Multiple systems can listen for deployment events, and it's up to each of those systems to decide whether they're responsible for pushing the code out to your servers, building native code, etc.

Note that the repo_deployment OAuth scope grants targeted access to deployments and deployment statuses without granting access to repository code, while the public_repo andrepo scopes grant permission to code as well.

Inactive deployments

When you set the state of a deployment to success, then all prior non-transient, non-production environment deployments in the same repository with the same environment name will become inactive. To avoid this, you can set auto_inactive to false when creating the deployment status.

You can communicate that a transient environment no longer exists by setting its state to inactive. Setting the state to inactive shows the deployment as destroyed in GitHub and removes access to it.

List deployments

Works with GitHub Apps

Simple filtering of deployments is available via query parameters:

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
ownerstringRequired

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repostringRequired

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
shastring

The SHA recorded at creation time.

Default: none

refstring

The name of the ref. This can be a branch, tag, or SHA.

Default: none

taskstring

The name of the task for the deployment (e.g., deploy or deploy:migrations).

Default: none

environmentstringnull

The name of the environment that was deployed to (e.g., staging or production).

Default: none

per_pageinteger

The number of results per page (max 100).

Default: 30

pageinteger

Page number of the results to fetch.

Default: 1

HTTP response status codes

Status codeDescription
200

OK

Code samples

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/deployments
curl \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/repos/OWNER/REPO/deployments

Response

Status: 200
[ { "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example/deployments/1", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDEwOkRlcGxveW1lbnQx", "sha": "a84d88e7554fc1fa21bcbc4efae3c782a70d2b9d", "ref": "topic-branch", "task": "deploy", "payload": {}, "original_environment": "staging", "environment": "production", "description": "Deploy request from hubot", "creator": { "login": "octocat", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=", "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif", "gravatar_id": "", "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat", "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat", "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers", "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}", "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}", "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}", "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions", "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs", "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}", "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events", "type": "User", "site_admin": false }, "created_at": "2012-07-20T01:19:13Z", "updated_at": "2012-07-20T01:19:13Z", "statuses_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example/deployments/1/statuses", "repository_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example", "transient_environment": false, "production_environment": true } ]

Create a deployment

Works with GitHub Apps

Deployments offer a few configurable parameters with certain defaults.

The ref parameter can be any named branch, tag, or SHA. At GitHub Enterprise Server we often deploy branches and verify them before we merge a pull request.

The environment parameter allows deployments to be issued to different runtime environments. Teams often have multiple environments for verifying their applications, such as production, staging, and qa. This parameter makes it easier to track which environments have requested deployments. The default environment is production.

The auto_merge parameter is used to ensure that the requested ref is not behind the repository's default branch. If the ref is behind the default branch for the repository, we will attempt to merge it for you. If the merge succeeds, the API will return a successful merge commit. If merge conflicts prevent the merge from succeeding, the API will return a failure response.

By default, commit statuses for every submitted context must be in a success state. The required_contexts parameter allows you to specify a subset of contexts that must be success, or to specify contexts that have not yet been submitted. You are not required to use commit statuses to deploy. If you do not require any contexts or create any commit statuses, the deployment will always succeed.

The payload parameter is available for any extra information that a deployment system might need. It is a JSON text field that will be passed on when a deployment event is dispatched.

The task parameter is used by the deployment system to allow different execution paths. In the web world this might be deploy:migrations to run schema changes on the system. In the compiled world this could be a flag to compile an application with debugging enabled.

Users with repo or repo_deployment scopes can create a deployment for a given ref.

Merged branch response

You will see this response when GitHub automatically merges the base branch into the topic branch instead of creating a deployment. This auto-merge happens when:

  • Auto-merge option is enabled in the repository
  • Topic branch does not include the latest changes on the base branch, which is master in the response example
  • There are no merge conflicts

If there are no new commits in the base branch, a new request to create a deployment should give a successful response.

Merge conflict response

This error happens when the auto_merge option is enabled and when the default branch (in this case master), can't be merged into the branch that's being deployed (in this case topic-branch), due to merge conflicts.

Failed commit status checks

This error happens when the required_contexts parameter indicates that one or more contexts need to have a success status for the commit to be deployed, but one or more of the required contexts do not have a state of success.

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
ownerstringRequired

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repostringRequired

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
refstringRequired

The ref to deploy. This can be a branch, tag, or SHA.

taskstring

Specifies a task to execute (e.g., deploy or deploy:migrations).

Default: deploy

auto_mergeboolean

Attempts to automatically merge the default branch into the requested ref, if it's behind the default branch.

Default: true

required_contextsarray of strings

The status contexts to verify against commit status checks. If you omit this parameter, GitHub verifies all unique contexts before creating a deployment. To bypass checking entirely, pass an empty array. Defaults to all unique contexts.

payloadobject or string

JSON payload with extra information about the deployment.

environmentstring

Name for the target deployment environment (e.g., production, staging, qa).

Default: production

descriptionstring or null

Short description of the deployment.

Default: ""

transient_environmentboolean

Specifies if the given environment is specific to the deployment and will no longer exist at some point in the future. Default: false

Default: false

production_environmentboolean

Specifies if the given environment is one that end-users directly interact with. Default: true when environment is production and false otherwise.

HTTP response status codes

Status codeDescription
201

Created

202

Merged branch response

409

Conflict when there is a merge conflict or the commit's status checks failed

422

Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Code samples

post/repos/{owner}/{repo}/deployments
curl \ -X POST \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/repos/OWNER/REPO/deployments \ -d '{"ref":"topic-branch","payload":"{ \"deploy\": \"migrate\" }","description":"Deploy request from hubot"}'

Simple example

Status: 201
{ "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example/deployments/1", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDEwOkRlcGxveW1lbnQx", "sha": "a84d88e7554fc1fa21bcbc4efae3c782a70d2b9d", "ref": "topic-branch", "task": "deploy", "payload": {}, "original_environment": "staging", "environment": "production", "description": "Deploy request from hubot", "creator": { "login": "octocat", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=", "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif", "gravatar_id": "", "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat", "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat", "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers", "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}", "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}", "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}", "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions", "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs", "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}", "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events", "type": "User", "site_admin": false }, "created_at": "2012-07-20T01:19:13Z", "updated_at": "2012-07-20T01:19:13Z", "statuses_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example/deployments/1/statuses", "repository_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example", "transient_environment": false, "production_environment": true }

Get a deployment

Works with GitHub Apps

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
ownerstringRequired

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repostringRequired

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

deployment_idintegerRequired

deployment_id parameter

HTTP response status codes

Status codeDescription
200

OK

404

Resource not found

Code samples

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/deployments/{deployment_id}
curl \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/repos/OWNER/REPO/deployments/DEPLOYMENT_ID

Response

Status: 200
{ "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example/deployments/1", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDEwOkRlcGxveW1lbnQx", "sha": "a84d88e7554fc1fa21bcbc4efae3c782a70d2b9d", "ref": "topic-branch", "task": "deploy", "payload": {}, "original_environment": "staging", "environment": "production", "description": "Deploy request from hubot", "creator": { "login": "octocat", "id": 1, "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=", "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif", "gravatar_id": "", "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat", "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat", "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers", "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}", "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}", "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}", "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions", "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs", "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos", "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}", "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events", "type": "User", "site_admin": false }, "created_at": "2012-07-20T01:19:13Z", "updated_at": "2012-07-20T01:19:13Z", "statuses_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example/deployments/1/statuses", "repository_url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/example", "transient_environment": false, "production_environment": true }

Delete a deployment

Works with GitHub Apps

If the repository only has one deployment, you can delete the deployment regardless of its status. If the repository has more than one deployment, you can only delete inactive deployments. This ensures that repositories with multiple deployments will always have an active deployment. Anyone with repo or repo_deployment scopes can delete a deployment.

To set a deployment as inactive, you must:

  • Create a new deployment that is active so that the system has a record of the current state, then delete the previously active deployment.
  • Mark the active deployment as inactive by adding any non-successful deployment status.

For more information, see "Create a deployment" and "Create a deployment status."

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
ownerstringRequired

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repostringRequired

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

deployment_idintegerRequired

deployment_id parameter

HTTP response status codes

Status codeDescription
204

No Content

404

Resource not found

422

Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

Code samples

delete/repos/{owner}/{repo}/deployments/{deployment_id}
curl \ -X DELETE \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \ http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/repos/OWNER/REPO/deployments/DEPLOYMENT_ID

Response

Status: 204