In Day 8 of our DevOps journey, we will explore how to integrate the GitHub API with shell scripting to automate various tasks related to managing GitHub repositories.
This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up authentication, creating repositories, managing issues, working with pull requests, and handling releases using shell scripts.
Before starting, ensure you have the following prerequisites:
To interact with the GitHub API, you need to authenticate your requests. Create a personal access token as described here.
# Set your GitHub Personal Access Token as an environment variable
export GITHUB_TOKEN="YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN"
Let's start by writing a script to create a new repository on GitHub using the GitHub API. Create a file named create_repository.sh
and add the following code:
#!/bin/bash
# Define your GitHub personal access token
GITHUB_TOKEN="your_github_personal_access_token_here"
# Define the repository name and description
REPO_NAME="my-new-repo"
REPO_DESCRIPTION="This is my new repository"
# Make a POST request to create the repository
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
-d "{\"name\":\"$REPO_NAME\",\"description\":\"$REPO_DESCRIPTION\"}" \
https://api.github.com/user/repos
Make sure to replace YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN
with your actual token.
Run the script:
bash create_repository.sh
You can also manage issues with the GitHub API. Here's an example of listing issues using a shell script.
#!/bin/bash
# Define repository owner and name
OWNER="yourusername"
REPO="your-repo-name"
# List issues for the repository
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
"https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues"
Similarly, you can work with pull requests. Here's an example of creating a pull request using a shell script.
#!/bin/bash
# Define repository owner and name
OWNER="yourusername"
REPO="your-repo-name"
# Create a new pull request
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
-d "{\"title\":\"New Feature\",\"head\":\"feature-branch\",\"base\":\"main\"}" \
"https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/pulls"
Managing releases can also be automated. Here's an example of creating a release using a shell script.
#!/bin/bash
# Define repository owner and name
OWNER="yourusername"
REPO="your-repo-name"
# Create a new release
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
-d "{\"tag_name\":\"v1.0\",\"name\":\"Release 1.0\",\"body\":\"Initial release\"}" \
"https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/releases"
In this tutorial, we've explored how to integrate the GitHub API with shell scripting to automate various GitHub repository management tasks. You can further expand these scripts and integrate them into your DevOps workflow for increased efficiency.
Remember to keep your personal access token secure and consider using environment variables for better security practices.
Don't forget to use the hashtag #DevOpsDiary when sharing your progress and insights with the community.