GitHub: Create or update file contents

GitHub repos.reposCreateOrUpdateFileContents: arguments, response, policy and SDK examples.

Operation github.repos_create_or_update_file_contents

Provider route: PUT /repos/{owner}/{repo}/contents/{path}. 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["repos"]["reposCreateOrUpdateFileContents"]>[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.repos.reposCreateOrUpdateFileContents(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.repos.repos_create_or_update_file_contents(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.path`	string	Required within parent
`body`	object	Required within parent
`body.author`	object	Optional	The author of the file. Default: The `committer` or the authenticated user if you omit `committer`.
`body.author.date`	string	Optional
`body.author.email`	string	Required within parent	The email of the author or committer of the commit. You’ll receive a `422` status code if `email` is omitted.
`body.author.name`	string	Required within parent	The name of the author or committer of the commit. You’ll receive a `422` status code if `name` is omitted.
`body.branch`	string	Optional	The branch name. Default: the repository’s default branch.
`body.committer`	object	Optional	The person that committed the file. Default: the authenticated user.
`body.committer.date`	string	Optional
`body.committer.email`	string	Required within parent	The email of the author or committer of the commit. You’ll receive a `422` status code if `email` is omitted.
`body.committer.name`	string	Required within parent	The name of the author or committer of the commit. You’ll receive a `422` status code if `name` is omitted.
`body.content`	string	Required within parent	The new file content, using Base64 encoding.
`body.message`	string	Required within parent	The commit message.
`body.sha`	string	Optional	Required if you are updating a file. The blob SHA of the file being replaced.

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
`$`	JSON	Root
`$ (anyOf 1)`	Model	Alternative	Expand Delete a file — response body
`$ (anyOf 2)`	Model	Alternative	Expand Delete a file — response body

Referenced models: Delete a file — response body

Schemas

Delete a file — response body

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
`$`	object	Root	File Commit
`commit`	Model	Required within parent	Expand Delete a file — response body — commit
`content`	JSON	Required within parent
`content (anyOf 1)`	object	Alternative
`content (anyOf 1)._links`	object	Optional
`content (anyOf 1)._links.git`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1)._links.html`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1)._links.self`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).download_url`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).git_url`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).html_url`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).name`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).path`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).sha`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).size`	JSON	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).size (anyOf 1)`	integer	Alternative
`content (anyOf 1).size (anyOf 2)`	string	Alternative	Pattern: ^-?[0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?(?:[eE][+-]?[0-9]+)?$
`content (anyOf 1).type`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 1).url`	string	Optional
`content (anyOf 2)`	null	Alternative

Referenced models: Delete a file — response body — commit

Delete a file — response body — commit

Field	Type	Presence
`$`	object	Root
`author`	object	Optional
`author.date`	string	Optional
`author.email`	string	Optional
`author.name`	string	Optional
`committer`	object	Optional
`committer.date`	string	Optional
`committer.email`	string	Optional
`committer.name`	string	Optional
`html_url`	string	Optional
`message`	string	Optional
`node_id`	string	Optional
`parents`	array	Optional
`parents[]`	object	Each item
`parents[].html_url`	string	Optional
`parents[].sha`	string	Optional
`parents[].url`	string	Optional
`sha`	string	Optional
`tree`	object	Optional
`tree.sha`	string	Optional
`tree.url`	string	Optional
`url`	string	Optional
`verification`	object	Optional
`verification.payload`	JSON	Optional
`verification.payload (anyOf 1)`	string	Alternative
`verification.payload (anyOf 2)`	null	Alternative
`verification.reason`	string	Optional
`verification.signature`	JSON	Optional
`verification.signature (anyOf 1)`	string	Alternative
`verification.signature (anyOf 2)`	null	Alternative
`verification.verified`	boolean	Optional
`verification.verified_at`	JSON	Optional
`verification.verified_at (anyOf 1)`	string	Alternative
`verification.verified_at (anyOf 2)`	null	Alternative

Policy, approvals and errors

SDK function policy ID: github.repos_create_or_update_file_contents. Catalog operation: repos/create-or-update-file-contents. 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

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