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To build an API changelog with GitHub REST API, first decide what counts as an entry: a published release, a Git tag, selected pull requests, or another repository event. For a release-oriented changelog, list releases through the REST API and paginate until every result is fetched. If you want notes for an upcoming release, GitHub also provides a release-note generation endpoint. Regular Git tags that have not been associated with a release do not appear in the releases listing, so they require a separate approach. See GitHub’s release endpoints.
Choose the source that matches your changelog
“How do I get all releases from the GitHub API?” has a direct answer: use the repository releases endpoint and follow its pagination links. But a release list is not a complete record of every change made to a repository. Define the changelog’s editorial rules before choosing an endpoint.
| Changelog entry type | What to retrieve | Important distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Published releases | Repository releases endpoint | Returns release records; ordinary tags without an associated release are omitted. |
| Release notes for a planned release | GitHub’s release-note generation endpoint | Generated notes are a draft input; review them if the project curates its published changelog. |
| Git tags, including tags without releases | A tag-oriented endpoint or another repository data source | Tags and releases are different resources and should not be treated as interchangeable. |
| Continuous activity, such as selected repository events | Event-specific endpoints or webhooks | Choose which events become entries and build delivery handling around that policy. |
GitHub’s release API documentation covers release listing and note generation. For continuous notifications, GitHub’s REST API overview recommends considering webhooks when an integration needs event notifications.
Build a release-based changelog
- Set the scope. Decide whether the output includes published releases only or also needs tags and other events. If it includes data beyond releases, plan a separate source and merge policy.
- Choose authentication. Use credentials appropriate to the job and grant only the access it needs. Keep application secrets out of browser-side code; consult GitHub’s credential guidance for the token type you select.
- Pin the REST API version. Send the
X-GitHub-Api-Versionheader explicitly. Store its value in configuration so it can be maintained deliberately. - Request the repository’s releases. Call the releases listing endpoint for the owner and repository you intend to document. Use the endpoint’s supported page-size parameter where appropriate.
- Fetch every page. Inspect the response’s
Linkheader and continue to the URL markedrel="next"until there is no next page. Do not assume the first response contains the full history. - Normalize and store entries. Map release fields into your changelog format. Use a stable ordering and deduplicate records in your own storage; these are application design choices, not guarantees made by the API.
- Refresh and publish. For scheduled updates, use conditional requests when supported and cache validators. For generated release notes, review the result against the project’s editorial policy before publishing.
- Monitor failures and limits. Read rate-limit response headers, distinguish primary from secondary limits, and implement backoff rather than retrying rapidly.
Pin an API version and plan upgrades
GitHub’s documentation accessed for this article lists 2026-03-10 and 2022-11-28 as supported REST API versions. Requests without an explicit version header currently default to 2022-11-28. GitHub says a previous version is supported for at least 24 months after a newer version is released, and its current version documentation lists March 10, 2028 as the end-of-support date for 2022-11-28. These dates and supported versions can change; check the API Versions documentation when maintaining an integration.
#1 Best Overall
Before changing the version header, read the breaking-change notes and test the integration against representative repositories. An explicit header makes the behavior reproducible and avoids silently relying on GitHub’s default.
Handle pagination instead of assuming one response is complete
Large API responses are split across pages. Follow the response’s Link header, using its next-page URL until it is absent. The per_page parameter can request a larger page where the endpoint supports it, but it does not remove the need to check for subsequent pages. GitHub’s pagination guide gives 30 as the default in an issues-endpoint example; that figure is not a universal default for every endpoint. See Using pagination in the REST API.
For a changelog store that combines multiple sources or refreshes over time, define how entries are ordered and deduplicated. For example, a release can be the primary record while linked pull requests provide supporting detail; the policy should prevent the same change from appearing as separate duplicate entries unless that is intentional.
Choose polling or webhooks based on update needs
| Approach | What creates an entry | Latency and recovery | Completeness and API use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled release polling | New release records found by querying the releases endpoint | Updates arrive on the next scheduled run. Missed runs can generally be recovered by fetching and reconciling the release history. | Requires pagination and periodic requests; conditional requests can reduce primary-rate-limit use when supported. |
| Webhook-driven updates | Events selected by the integration’s webhook configuration and processing rules | Can deliver event notifications without waiting for a polling interval, but the integration must handle delivery failures and recovery. | Requires event-specific filtering and reliable delivery handling; it is not automatically a complete historical changelog. |
Use polling when the desired record is a release history and periodic freshness is acceptable. Consider webhooks when event-driven updates matter and you can operate a receiver and recovery process. GitHub’s overview recommends considering webhooks for event notifications, not using them for every integration.
Authenticate responsibly and respect rate limits
GitHub documents different primary limits depending on authentication. Its current REST rate-limit documentation lists 60 requests per hour for unauthenticated requests to public data, 5,000 per hour as a typical authenticated-user limit, and 1,000 per hour per repository for GITHUB_TOKEN; GitHub Enterprise Cloud resources have a higher stated limit. These are documented operational limits, not a promise that every integration or endpoint has the same effective budget.
A separate secondary limit applies across REST and GraphQL APIs, with a documented maximum of 100 concurrent requests. Consult the current rate-limit documentation, inspect response headers, and back off when a request is limited. Avoid parallel request bursts and avoid treating one numeric limit as universal across credentials and endpoints.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Reduce unnecessary repeat requests
For scheduled refreshes, use conditional requests when the endpoint supports validators such as an ETag or Last-Modified value. GitHub’s integrator best practices state that an authorized conditional request returning 304 Not Modified does not count against the primary rate limit. Confirm that the specific endpoint and authentication context you use support the validator, and retain it between runs.
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If the goal is “How can I generate release notes from GitHub?”, use the release-note generation endpoint rather than assembling prose solely from a releases listing. Check the endpoint documentation for the repository configuration it accepts and treat its result as generated content to review. The listing endpoint answers what release records exist; note generation is a separate operation.
Quick Recap
Common implementation mistakes
- Using releases as a synonym for tags: releases listing omits ordinary tags that are not associated with releases.
- Reading only the first page: follow pagination links until no next page remains.
- Leaving the API version implicit: set
X-GitHub-Api-Versionand monitor supported-version changes. - Assuming a fixed request budget: authentication affects primary limits, and secondary limits also apply.
- Using webhooks as a historical export: event delivery is not itself a complete historical changelog; define how to recover missed or existing records.
- Publishing generated notes without review: generation supplies content, while the project’s editorial policy determines what belongs in its public changelog.
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