REST API endpoints for labels - GitHub Enterprise Cloud Docs

List labels for an issue

Lists all labels for an issue.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (read)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (read)

allows_public_read_access

Parameters for "List labels for an issue"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`issue_number` integer Required The number that identifies the issue.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `30`
`page` integer The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `1`

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK
`301`	Moved permanently
`404`	Resource not found
`410`	Gone

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}/labels

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER/labels

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 208045946,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
    "name": "bug",
    "description": "Something isn't working",
    "color": "f29513",
    "default": true
  },
  {
    "id": 208045947,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDc=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/enhancement",
    "name": "enhancement",
    "description": "New feature or request",
    "color": "a2eeef",
    "default": false
  }
]

Add labels to an issue

Adds labels to an issue.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (write)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Add labels to an issue"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`issue_number` integer Required The number that identifies the issue.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`labels` array of strings The names of the labels to add to the issue's existing labels. You can also pass an `array` of labels directly, but GitHub recommends passing an object with the `labels` key. To replace all of the labels for an issue, use "Set labels for an issue."

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK
`301`	Moved permanently
`404`	Resource not found
`410`	Gone
`422`	Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

post/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}/labels

curl -L \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER/labels \
  -d '{"labels":["bug","enhancement"]}'

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 208045946,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
    "name": "bug",
    "description": "Something isn't working",
    "color": "f29513",
    "default": true
  },
  {
    "id": 208045947,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDc=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/enhancement",
    "name": "enhancement",
    "description": "New feature or request",
    "color": "a2eeef",
    "default": false
  }
]

Set labels for an issue

Removes any previous labels and sets the new labels for an issue.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (write)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Set labels for an issue"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`issue_number` integer Required The number that identifies the issue.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`labels` array of strings The names of the labels to set for the issue. The labels you set replace any existing labels. You can pass an empty array to remove all labels. Alternatively, you can pass a single label as a `string` or an `array` of labels directly, but GitHub recommends passing an object with the `labels` key. You can also add labels to the existing labels for an issue. For more information, see "Add labels to an issue."

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK
`301`	Moved permanently
`404`	Resource not found
`410`	Gone
`422`	Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

put/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}/labels

curl -L \
  -X PUT \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER/labels \
  -d '{"labels":["bug","enhancement"]}'

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 208045946,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
    "name": "bug",
    "description": "Something isn't working",
    "color": "f29513",
    "default": true
  },
  {
    "id": 208045947,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDc=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/enhancement",
    "name": "enhancement",
    "description": "New feature or request",
    "color": "a2eeef",
    "default": false
  }
]

Remove all labels from an issue

Removes all labels from an issue.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (write)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Remove all labels from an issue"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`issue_number` integer Required The number that identifies the issue.

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`204`	No Content
`301`	Moved permanently
`404`	Resource not found
`410`	Gone

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

delete/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}/labels

curl -L \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER/labels

Response

Status: 204

Remove a label from an issue

Removes the specified label from the issue, and returns the remaining labels on the issue. This endpoint returns a 404 Not Found status if the label does not exist.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (write)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Remove a label from an issue"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`issue_number` integer Required The number that identifies the issue.
`name` string Required

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK
`301`	Moved permanently
`404`	Resource not found
`410`	Gone

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

delete/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}/labels/{name}

curl -L \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER/labels/NAME

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 208045946,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
    "name": "bug",
    "description": "Something isn't working",
    "color": "f29513",
    "default": true
  }
]

List labels for a repository

Lists all labels for a repository.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (read)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (read)

allows_public_read_access

Parameters for "List labels for a repository"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `30`
`page` integer The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `1`

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK
`404`	Resource not found

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/labels

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 208045946,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
    "name": "bug",
    "description": "Something isn't working",
    "color": "f29513",
    "default": true
  },
  {
    "id": 208045947,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDc=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/enhancement",
    "name": "enhancement",
    "description": "New feature or request",
    "color": "a2eeef",
    "default": false
  }
]

Create a label

Creates a label for the specified repository with the given name and color. The name and color parameters are required. The color must be a valid hexadecimal color code.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (write)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Create a label"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`name` string Required The name of the label. Emoji can be added to label names, using either native emoji or colon-style markup. For example, typing `:strawberry:` will render the emoji . For a full list of available emoji and codes, see "Emoji cheat sheet."
`color` string The hexadecimal color code for the label, without the leading `#`.
`description` string A short description of the label. Must be 100 characters or fewer.

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`201`	Created
`404`	Resource not found
`422`	Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed.

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

post/repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels

curl -L \
  -X POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/labels \
  -d '{"name":"bug","description":"Something isn'\''t working","color":"f29513"}'

Response

Status: 201

{
  "id": 208045946,
  "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
  "name": "bug",
  "description": "Something isn't working",
  "color": "f29513",
  "default": true
}

Get a label

Gets a label using the given name.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (read)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (read)

allows_public_read_access

Parameters for "Get a label"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`name` string Required

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK
`404`	Resource not found

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels/{name}

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/labels/NAME

Response

Status: 200

{
  "id": 208045946,
  "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
  "name": "bug",
  "description": "Something isn't working",
  "color": "f29513",
  "default": true
}

Update a label

Updates a label using the given label name.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (write)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Update a label"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`name` string Required

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
`new_name` string The new name of the label. Emoji can be added to label names, using either native emoji or colon-style markup. For example, typing `:strawberry:` will render the emoji . For a full list of available emoji and codes, see "Emoji cheat sheet."
`color` string The hexadecimal color code for the label, without the leading `#`.
`description` string A short description of the label. Must be 100 characters or fewer.

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

patch/repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels/{name}

curl -L \
  -X PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/labels/NAME \
  -d '{"new_name":"bug :bug:","description":"Small bug fix required","color":"b01f26"}'

Response

Status: 200

{
  "id": 208045946,
  "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
  "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug%20:bug:",
  "name": "bug :bug:",
  "description": "Small bug fix required",
  "color": "b01f26",
  "default": true
}

Delete a label

Deletes a label using the given label name.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (write)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (write)

Parameters for "Delete a label"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`name` string Required

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`204`	No Content

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

delete/repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels/{name}

curl -L \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/labels/NAME

Response

Status: 204

List labels for issues in a milestone

Lists labels for issues in a milestone.

fine_grained_access

works_with_fine_grained_tokens:

permission_sets:

"Issues" repository permissions (read)
"Pull requests" repository permissions (read)

allows_public_read_access

Parameters for "List labels for issues in a milestone"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept` string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`owner` string Required The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.
`repo` string Required The name of the repository without the `.git` extension. The name is not case sensitive.
`milestone_number` integer Required The number that identifies the milestone.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`per_page` integer The number of results per page (max 100). For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `30`
`page` integer The page number of the results to fetch. For more information, see "Using pagination in the REST API." Default: `1`

http_status_code

status_code	Description
`200`	OK

code_samples

data_residency_notice

request_example

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/milestones/{milestone_number}/labels

curl -L \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2026-03-10" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/milestones/MILESTONE_NUMBER/labels

Response

Status: 200

[
  {
    "id": 208045946,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDY=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/bug",
    "name": "bug",
    "description": "Something isn't working",
    "color": "f29513",
    "default": true
  },
  {
    "id": 208045947,
    "node_id": "MDU6TGFiZWwyMDgwNDU5NDc=",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels/enhancement",
    "name": "enhancement",
    "description": "New feature or request",
    "color": "a2eeef",
    "default": false
  }
]