GitHub Repo Branches

Blocks for creating, listing, deleting, and comparing branches in GitHub repositories.

Github Compare Branches

What it is

This block compares two branches or commits in a GitHub repository.

How it works

This block compares two branches or commits using the GitHub Compare API (/compare/base...head). It returns the comparison status (ahead, behind, diverged, or identical), commit counts, and a list of changed files with their diffs.

The block also builds a unified diff string from the patches of all changed files, making it easy to review the full set of changes at once.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
repo_url	URL of the GitHub repository	str	Yes
base	Base branch or commit SHA	str	Yes
head	Head branch or commit SHA to compare against base	str	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if comparison failed	str
status	Comparison status: ahead, behind, diverged, or identical	str
ahead_by	Number of commits head is ahead of base	int
behind_by	Number of commits head is behind base	int
total_commits	Total number of commits in the comparison	int
diff	Unified diff of all file changes	str
file	A changed file with its diff	Changed File
files	List of changed files with their diffs	List[FileChange]

Possible use case

Pre-Merge Review: Compare a feature branch against main to see all changes before creating a pull request.

Drift Detection: Check whether a long-lived branch has diverged from the base branch and needs rebasing.

Release Diffing: Compare two release tags or branches to generate a summary of changes between versions.

Github Delete Branch

What it is

This block deletes a specified branch.

How it works

This block deletes a branch by sending a DELETE request to the GitHub Git Refs API at /git/refs/heads/{branch}. The branch name is URL-encoded to handle special characters.

The operation is permanent and cannot be undone. The block returns a success status message or an error if the deletion fails.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
repo_url	URL of the GitHub repository	str	Yes
branch	Name of the branch to delete	str	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the branch deletion failed	str
status	Status of the branch deletion operation	str

Possible use case

Post-Merge Cleanup: Automatically delete feature branches after their pull requests have been merged.

Stale Branch Removal: Delete branches that are no longer active to keep the repository organized.

CI/CD Pipeline Cleanup: Remove temporary branches created by automated build or test processes.

Github List Branches

What it is

This block lists all branches for a specified GitHub repository.

How it works

This block retrieves branches from a GitHub repository using the Branches API. It supports pagination with the per_page parameter to control how many branches are returned per request.

Each branch entry includes its name and a URL to browse the repository file tree at that branch.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
repo_url	URL of the GitHub repository	str	Yes
per_page	Number of branches to return per page (max 100)	int	No
page	Page number for pagination	int	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if listing branches failed	str
branch	Branches with their name and file tree browser URL	Branch
branches	List of branches with their name and file tree browser URL	List[BranchItem]

Possible use case

Branch Inventory: List all branches to get an overview of active development streams in a repository.

Stale Branch Detection: Enumerate branches to identify those that may need cleanup or deletion.

Branch Validation: Verify that expected branches exist before running automated workflows.

Github Make Branch

What it is

This block creates a new branch from a specified source branch.

How it works

This block creates a new branch by first fetching the latest commit SHA from the source branch via the Git Refs API, then creating a new git reference pointing to that same commit. This effectively branches off from the current tip of the source branch.

The block returns a success status message or an error if the branch creation fails.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
repo_url	URL of the GitHub repository	str	Yes
new_branch	Name of the new branch	str	Yes
source_branch	Name of the source branch	str	Yes

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the branch creation failed	str
status	Status of the branch creation operation	str

Possible use case

Feature Branch Creation: Automatically create feature branches from the main branch when starting new tasks.

Release Branching: Create release branches from development branches as part of a release workflow.

Hotfix Isolation: Spin up hotfix branches from production branches to isolate urgent fixes.