How can I get last commit from GitHub API

Question

Which is the best way to get the latest commit information from a git repository using GitHub API (Rest API v3).

Option 1: GET /repos/:owner/:repo/commits/mast

Answer 1

It depends on your definition of "last".

• for a given branch (like master), GET /repos/:owner/:repo/commits/master is indeed the last (most recent) commit.

• But you can also consider the last push event: that would represent the last and most recent commit done (on any branch), pushed by a user to this repo.

Answer 2

You can also use Github GraphQL v4 to get the last commit of the default branch :

{
  repository(name: "linux", owner: "torvalds") {
    defaultBranchRef {
      target {
        ... on Commit {
          history(first: 1) {
            nodes {
              message
              committedDate
              authoredDate
              oid
              author {
                email
                name
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Or for all branches :

{
  repository(name: "material-ui", owner: "mui-org") {
    refs(first: 100, refPrefix: "refs/heads/") {
      edges {
        node {
          name
          target {
            ... on Commit {
              history(first: 1) {
                nodes {
                  message
                  committedDate
                  authoredDate
                  oid
                  author {
                    email
                    name
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Try it in the explorer