📊 GitHub API Rate Limit Check

Description

This GitHub Action provides an automated, real-time check of your repository’s GitHub API rate limits, giving you instant visibility into your API consumption. With detailed reporting and proactive alerts, you can prevent unexpected disruptions and optimize API usage in your workflows.

Designed for reliability and clarity, this composite action:

• Calls the GitHub Rate Limit API and extracts real-time usage metrics.
• Formats and logs the results professionally in both workflow logs and GitHub Step Summary.
• Warns when remaining API requests fall below a threshold (default: 100).
• Fails fast when limits are exhausted to avoid unexpected workflow failures.
• Handles missing data gracefully, preventing false alarms from disabled or unavailable API endpoints.

Whether you're running frequent automation, managing API-driven integrations, or monitoring GitHub resources, this action ensures you stay informed and in control of your API quota.

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🚀 Why Use This Action?

✔️ Prevents Workflow Failures – Stops workflows from running when API limits are exceeded.
✔️ Proactive Warnings – Get alerts when remaining requests drop below a safe threshold.
✔️ Clear, Professional Reporting – View a clean summary table in GitHub Actions for quick insights.
✔️ Safe and Robust Handling – Avoids errors due to missing or unavailable API data.
✔️ Simple Integration – Plug it into any workflow with minimal setup.

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📦 Usage

Workflow Example

Add the following to your GitHub Actions workflow to monitor API usage before running rate-limited tasks.

jobs:
  check-rate-limit:
    name: Check GitHub API Rate Limit
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        id: checkout-repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Run GitHub API Rate Limit Check
        id: check-rate-limit
        uses: coderrob/github-api-rate-limit-check@v1
        with:
          github-token: ${{ github.token }}

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📜 How It Works

1. Fetches Rate Limit Data → Calls the https://api.github.com/rate_limit endpoint.
2. Parses and Processes Data → Extracts core, GraphQL, and search API quotas.
3. Logs Results → Displays a structured table in GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY and console logs.
4. Triggers Alerts:
   • Warning (⚠️) if remaining API requests drop below 100.
   • Error (❌) if limits are fully exhausted (only if that API type is enabled).
5. Fails the Workflow (if needed) → Prevents unintended execution when API access is unavailable.

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📊 Example Output

Console Logs

GitHub API Rate Limit Status:
--------------------------------------------
 Core API:  85 / 5000  (Resets at 2025-02-20 15:00:00 UTC)
 GraphQL:   4500 / 5000  (Resets at 2025-02-20 15:00:00 UTC)
 Search:    0 / 30  (Resets at 2025-02-20 15:00:00 UTC)
--------------------------------------------
⚠️ GitHub API Rate Limit is low (85 remaining)!
❌ GitHub Search API Rate Limit has been fully exhausted!

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📊 GitHub API Rate Limit Summary

API Type	Remaining	Limit	Reset Time (UTC)
Core API	85	5000	2025-02-20 15:00:00
GraphQL	4500	5000	2025-02-20 15:00:00
Search	0	30	2025-02-20 15:00:00

⚠️ Warning: GitHub API rate limit is low (85 remaining).
❌ Error: GitHub Search API rate limit has been fully exhausted.

⏳ API limits reset periodically. Plan requests accordingly.

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🛠 Inputs

Name	Required	Description
github-token	✅ Yes	GitHub token used for authentication (${{ github.token }})

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🎯 Best Use Cases

• Before running API-heavy workflows (e.g., fetching issue data, triggering GitHub Actions via API).
• Monitoring CI/CD jobs that rely on GitHub API calls to avoid failures mid-run.
• Logging and auditing API usage across your organization’s GitHub actions.

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🏆 Take Control of Your GitHub API Usage

This action gives you the power to monitor, manage, and prevent API failures before they happen. Whether you're a solo developer or running large-scale automation, stay ahead of rate limits and keep your workflows running smoothly. 🚀

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🔗 Related Resources

• GitHub API Rate Limits Docs
• GitHub Actions Documentation