GitHub: Update a pull request branch

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Operation github.pulls_update_branch

Provider route: PUT /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{pull_number}/update-branch. 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["pulls"]["pullsUpdateBranch"]>[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.pulls.pullsUpdateBranch(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.pulls.pulls_update_branch(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
path.pull_number	integer	Required within parent
body	JSON	Optional
body (anyOf 1)	object	Alternative
body (anyOf 1).expected_head_sha	string	Optional	The expected SHA of the pull request’s HEAD ref. This is the most recent commit on the pull request’s branch. If the expected SHA does not match the pull request’s HEAD, you will receive a `422 Unprocessable Entity` status. You can use the “[List commits](https://docs.github.com/rest/commits/commits#list-commits)” endpoint to find the most recent commit SHA. Default: SHA of the pull request’s current HEAD ref.
body (anyOf 2)	null	Alternative

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
$	object	Root
message	string	Optional
url	string	Optional

Policy, approvals and errors

SDK function policy ID: github.pulls_update_branch. Catalog operation: pulls/update-branch. 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