GitHub: Create a reference

← Git operations · Get started

Operation github.git_create_ref

Provider route: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/git/refs. Alter supplies the connection’s credentials and routing.

Call through Alter

Install @alter-ai/sdk @alter-ai/github with npm, or alter-sdk-github with pip. Supply your connected customer’s grant ID and the arguments described below.

import { App } from "@alter-ai/sdk";
import { GitHubIntegration } from "@alter-ai/github";

async function execute(input: Parameters<GitHubIntegration["git"]["gitCreateRef"]>[0]) {
  const app = new App({ apiKey: process.env.ALTER_API_KEY! });
  try {
    const provider = new GitHubIntegration(app, { grantId: process.env.PROVIDER_GRANT_ID! });
    const call = await provider.git.gitCreateRef(input);
    const result = await call.wait();
    return result.bodyJson();
  } finally {
    await app.close();
  }
}

import os
from alter_sdk import App
from alter_sdk_github import GitHubIntegration

async def execute(arguments):
    async with App(api_key=os.environ["ALTER_API_KEY"]) as app:
        provider = GitHubIntegration(app, {"grant_id": os.environ["PROVIDER_GRANT_ID"]})
        call = await provider.git.git_create_ref(arguments)
        result = await call.wait()
        return result.body_json()

Input

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
$	object	Root	Additional keys: not allowed
path	object	Required within parent	Additional keys: not allowed
path.owner	string	Required within parent
path.repo	string	Required within parent
body	object	Required within parent
body.ref	string	Required within parent	The name of the fully qualified reference (ie: `refs/heads/master`). If it doesn’t start with ‘refs’ and have at least two slashes, it will be rejected.
body.sha	string	Required within parent	The SHA1 value for this reference.

Response

Response media type: application/json. The table describes the pinned successful response. Referenced models link to their complete fields.

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
$	Model	Root	Expand Get a reference — response body

Referenced models: Get a reference — response body

Schemas

Get a reference — response body

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
$	object	Root	Git references within a repository
node_id	string	Required within parent
object	object	Required within parent
object.sha	string	Required within parent	SHA for the reference Maximum length: 40 Minimum length: 40
object.type	string	Required within parent
object.url	string	Required within parent	Format: uri
ref	string	Required within parent
url	string	Required within parent	Format: uri

Policy, approvals and errors

SDK function policy ID: github.git_create_ref. Catalog operation: git/create-ref. Rules can name either ID; function rules distinguish managed calls and conservatively cover raw calls sharing the route. Existing grant permissions and policy rules apply. wait() returns an immediate result or waits for a required approval; it never approves the request itself. Persist the approval ID to resume after a restart.

Provider errors retain their response; JSON decoding raises ProviderAPIError for provider failures. ManagedOperationError identifies contract/input/retention errors. See error handling and provider-specific behavior. Sensitive input may be refused before approval storage. A decoding error never resubmits a write.

Pinned headers: {"X-GitHub-Api-Version": "2026-03-10", "User-Agent": "Alter", "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"}

Official provider source