GitHub API authentication and rate limiting in Python

<p>Calling the GitHub REST API to fetch repository data, user information, and pull request details. Hitting rate limits (60 req/hour unauthenticated, 5000/hour with token). Need to handle pagination and rate limit headers.</p>

<p>Use <code>httpx</code> with authentication headers and rate limit tracking:</p> <div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><code><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">httpx</span> <span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">asyncio</span> <span class="kn">from</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">datetime</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">datetime</span> <span class="k">class</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nc">GitHubClient</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">BASE_URL</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s1">'https://api.github.com'</span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="fm">__init__</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">token</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">client</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">httpx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">AsyncClient</span><span class="p">(</span> <span class="n">base_url</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">BASE_URL</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">headers</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">{</span> <span class="s1">'Authorization'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="sa">f</span><span class="s1">'Bearer </span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">token</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s1">'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'Accept'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="s1">'application/vnd.github.v3+json'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'X-GitHub-Api-Version'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="s1">'2022-11-28'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">},</span> <span class="n">timeout</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mf">10.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">async</span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">_request</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">method</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">path</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">**</span><span class="n">kwargs</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">-&gt;</span> <span class="nb">dict</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">response</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">client</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">request</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">method</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">path</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">**</span><span class="n">kwargs</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c1"># Check rate limit</span> <span class="n">remaining</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">response</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">headers</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'X-RateLimit-Remaining'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">))</span> <span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">remaining</span> <span class="o">&lt;</span> <span class="mi">10</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">reset_at</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">response</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">headers</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'X-RateLimit-Reset'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">))</span> <span class="n">wait</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="nb">max</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">reset_at</span> <span class="o">-</span> <span class="n">datetime</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">utcnow</span><span class="p">()</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">timestamp</span><span class="p">())</span> <span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">f</span><span class="s1">'Rate limit low (</span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">remaining</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s1"> remaining), waiting </span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">wait</span><span class="si">:</span><span class="s1">.0f</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s1">s'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="n">asyncio</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sleep</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">wait</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">response</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">raise_for_status</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">response</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">json</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="k">async</span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">get_repo</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">owner</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">repo</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">-&gt;</span> <span class="nb">dict</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">_request</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'GET'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="sa">f</span><span class="s1">'/repos/</span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">owner</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s1">/</span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">repo</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s1">'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">async</span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">list_prs</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">owner</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">repo</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">state</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="nb">str</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s1">'open'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">-&gt;</span> <span class="nb">list</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">dict</span><span class="p">]:</span> <span class="n">all_prs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[]</span> <span class="n">page</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">1</span> <span class="k">while</span> <span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">data</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">_request</span><span class="p">(</span> <span class="s1">'GET'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="sa">f</span><span class="s1">'/repos/</span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">owner</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s1">/</span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">repo</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s1">/pulls'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">params</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">{</span><span class="s1">'state'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">state</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'per_page'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">100</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'page'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">page</span><span class="p">}</span> <span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">if</span> <span class="ow">not</span> <span class="n">data</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">break</span> <span class="n">all_prs</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">extend</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">data</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">page</span> <span class="o">+=</span> <span class="mi">1</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">all_prs</span> <span class="k">async</span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">close</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">client</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">aclose</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="c1"># Usage</span> <span class="k">async</span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">main</span><span class="p">():</span> <span class="n">client</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">GitHubClient</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">token</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'ghp_...'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">try</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">repo</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="n">client</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_repo</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'anthropics'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'anthropic-sdk-python'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">f</span><span class="s2">"Stars: </span><span class="si">{</span><span class="n">repo</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'stargazers_count'</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s2">"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">prs</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="n">client</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">list_prs</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'anthropics'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'anthropic-sdk-python'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="sa">f</span><span class="s2">"Open PRs: </span><span class="si">{</span><span class="nb">len</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">prs</span><span class="p">)</span><span class="si">}</span><span class="s2">"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">finally</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">await</span> <span class="n">client</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span> </code></pre></div> <p>GitHub returns pagination links in the <code>Link</code> header (not in the body). The <code>X-RateLimit-Remaining</code> header is present on every response. Use GitHub Apps (not personal tokens) for production — 5000+ req/hour per installation.</p>