Read a branch's protection config

Check what protection, if any, currently governs a branch.

Call

get_branch_protection { "owner": "<owner>", "repo": "<repo>", "branch": "<branch>" }

Result

{
  "requiredStatusChecks": { "strict": true, "contexts": ["ci / build"] },
  "enforceAdmins": true,
  "requiredApprovingReviewCount": 1
}

requiredStatusChecks is null if no status checks are required. requiredApprovingReviewCount is null if the branch has no required PR reviews configured at all.

If the branch has no protection

GitHub’s underlying endpoint 404s when a branch isn’t protected. The tool surfaces this as a github_api_error — that’s the expected signal for “unprotected,” not a failure to diagnose.

Notes

This tool only sees classic branch protection. A branch can also be governed by rulesets, which are read separately — see list-repo-rulesets.md.