REST API endpoints for user interactions
Use the REST API to temporarily restrict which type of user can comment, open issues, or create pull requests in your public repositories.
About user interactions
You can use the REST API to temporarily restrict which type of user can comment, open issues, or create pull requests on your public repositories. When restrictions are enabled, only the specified type of GitHub user will be able to participate in interactions. Restrictions automatically expire after a defined duration. Here's more about the types of GitHub users:
- Existing users: When you limit interactions to
existing_users, new users with accounts less than 24 hours old who have not previously contributed and are not collaborators will be temporarily restricted from interacting with your repositories. - Contributors only: When you limit interactions to
contributors_only, users who have not previously contributed and are not collaborators will be temporarily restricted from interacting with your repositories. - Collaborators only: When you limit interactions to
collaborators_only, users who are not collaborators will be temporarily restricted from interacting with your repositories.
Setting the interaction limit at the user level will overwrite any interaction limits that are set for individual repositories owned by the user. To set different interaction limits for individual repositories owned by the user, use the Repository interactions endpoints instead.
Get interaction restrictions for your public repositories
Shows which type of GitHub user can interact with your public repositories and when the restriction expires.
fine_grained_access
works_with_fine_grained_tokens:
permission_set:
- "Interaction limits" user permissions (read)
http_status_code
| status_code | Description |
|---|---|
200 | Default response |
204 | Response when there are no restrictions |
code_samples
request_example
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/user/interaction-limitsDefault response
Status: 200{
"limit": "collaborators_only",
"origin": "organization",
"expires_at": "2018-08-17T04:18:39Z"
}Set interaction restrictions for your public repositories
Temporarily restricts which type of GitHub user can interact with your public repositories. Setting the interaction limit at the user level will overwrite any interaction limits that are set for individual repositories owned by the user.
fine_grained_access
works_with_fine_grained_tokens:
permission_set:
- "Interaction limits" user permissions (write)
Parameters for "Set interaction restrictions for your public repositories"
| Name, Type, Description |
|---|
accept string Setting to |
| Name, Type, Description |
|---|
limit string RequiredThe type of GitHub user that can comment, open issues, or create pull requests while the interaction limit is in effect. Can be one of: |
expiry string The duration of the interaction restriction. Default: Can be one of: |
http_status_code
| status_code | Description |
|---|---|
200 | OK |
422 | Validation failed, or the endpoint has been spammed. |
code_samples
request_example
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/user/interaction-limits \
-d '{"limit":"collaborators_only","expiry":"one_month"}'Response
Status: 200{
"limit": "collaborators_only",
"origin": "user",
"expires_at": "2018-08-17T04:18:39Z"
}Remove interaction restrictions from your public repositories
Removes any interaction restrictions from your public repositories.
fine_grained_access
works_with_fine_grained_tokens:
permission_set:
- "Interaction limits" user permissions (write)
http_status_code
| status_code | Description |
|---|---|
204 | No Content |
code_samples
request_example
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/user/interaction-limitsResponse
Status: 204