Using the Github API is it possible to determine if a branch is ahead of the default branch?

Question

Using the Github API (no local git commands), is it possible to compare a branch to see if it has any changes ahead of the default branch?

I'm building an auditing tool, and would like to identify branches that are candidates to be closed, because all of their changes exist in the default branch.

I want the same information that drives the charts on the branches page: (See https://github.com/octokit/octokit.rb/branches)

Is it possible to do get this information purely with the Github API?

Lehr

Answer 1

You can:

• get the default branch using https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb

• compare the specified branch to the default branch using compare two commits API and extract ahead_by & behind_by fields.

In that case it would be : https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb/compare/kytrinyx/generator/spike...master

Example using bash, curl & jq :

branch=kytrinyx/generator/spike
default_branch=$(curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb" | jq -r '.default_branch')
curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/octokit/octokit.rb/compare/$branch...$default_branch" | \
     jq -r '.ahead_by, .behind_by'

Neuralgia