The Power of GitHub API: Automating Repository Management

Daniel Chu
5 min readJul 21, 2024

Managing repositories on GitHub can be a daunting task, especially when dealing with numerous repositories. Performing actions like deleting repositories one by one can be time-consuming and error-prone. Thankfully, GitHub API provides a powerful toolset to automate these tasks, making repository management more efficient and less tedious.

Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

My original GitHub account has more than 1000 repositories. Here, I will outline a three-step process to list and delete repositories based on specific criteria, harnessing the power of GitHub API to streamline your workflow.

Prerequisites: Setting Up Your GitHub Token

Before diving into automation, you need to create a GitHub token with the appropriate permissions. Follow these steps:

  1. Generate a GitHub Token:
  • Log in to your GitHub account.
  • Navigate to your Developer settings.
  • Click on “Personal access tokens” and then “Generate new token”.
  • Select the required scopes: delete_repo and repo.
  • Generate the token and…

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