Step by Step Guide to Building a GitHub Issues API Integration in PHP

Aug 9, 2024 • 6 minute read

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your workflow with the GitHub Issues API? You're in the right place. This guide will walk you through creating a sleek PHP integration that'll have you managing issues like a pro in no time.

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, make sure you've got:

A PHP environment (you knew that, right?)
Composer installed (because who wants to manage dependencies manually?)
A GitHub account and personal access token (if you don't have one, now's the time!)

Setting up the project

Let's get this show on the road:

Fire up your terminal and create a new project directory:
```
mkdir github-issues-api && cd github-issues-api
```

Initialize Composer and install Guzzle:

composer init
composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle

Authentication

Time to get cozy with GitHub:

$token = 'your_personal_access_token';
$headers = [
    'Authorization' => 'token ' . $token,
    'Accept' => 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
];

Making API requests

Let's flex those API muscles:

use GuzzleHttp\Client;

$client = new Client(['base_uri' => 'https://api.github.com/']);

// GET: Fetch issues
$response = $client->get('repos/owner/repo/issues', ['headers' => $headers]);

// POST: Create a new issue
$response = $client->post('repos/owner/repo/issues', [
    'headers' => $headers,
    'json' => [
        'title' => 'New issue',
        'body' => 'This is a new issue',
    ],
]);

// PATCH: Update an issue
$response = $client->patch('repos/owner/repo/issues/1', [
    'headers' => $headers,
    'json' => [
        'title' => 'Updated issue title',
    ],
]);

// DELETE: Close an issue (GitHub doesn't allow true deletion)
$response = $client->patch('repos/owner/repo/issues/1', [
    'headers' => $headers,
    'json' => [
        'state' => 'closed',
    ],
]);

Handling responses

Don't leave your responses hanging:

$body = $response->getBody();
$data = json_decode($body, true);

if ($response->getStatusCode() !== 200) {
    throw new Exception('API request failed: ' . $data['message']);
}

Building a simple interface

Let's wrap this up in a neat little package:

class GitHubIssues
{
    private $client;
    private $headers;

    public function __construct($token)
    {
        $this->client = new Client(['base_uri' => 'https://api.github.com/']);
        $this->headers = [
            'Authorization' => 'token ' . $token,
            'Accept' => 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
        ];
    }

    public function getIssues($owner, $repo)
    {
        $response = $this->client->get("repos/$owner/$repo/issues", ['headers' => $this->headers]);
        return json_decode($response->getBody(), true);
    }

    // Add more methods for creating, updating, and closing issues
}

// Usage
$github = new GitHubIssues('your_token');
$issues = $github->getIssues('owner', 'repo');

Don't be greedy, play nice with GitHub's limits:

public function getAllIssues($owner, $repo)
{
    $page = 1;
    $allIssues = [];

    do {
        $response = $this->client->get("repos/$owner/$repo/issues", [
            'headers' => $this->headers,
            'query' => ['page' => $page, 'per_page' => 100],
        ]);

        $issues = json_decode($response->getBody(), true);
        $allIssues = array_merge($allIssues, $issues);

        $page++;
    } while (!empty($issues));

    return $allIssues;
}

Webhooks (optional)

Want real-time updates? Set up a webhook:

Go to your repository settings on GitHub
Click on "Webhooks" and then "Add webhook"
Set your Payload URL to your server endpoint
Choose which events you want to receive

Then, handle incoming webhooks in your PHP script:

$payload = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'), true);
// Process the webhook payload

Testing and debugging

Don't forget to test your code! Use PHPUnit for unit testing and don't be shy about using var_dump() when you're stuck.

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've just built a robust GitHub Issues API integration. With this foundation, you can expand to cover more endpoints, add error handling, or even build a full-fledged issue management system. The sky's the limit!

Resources

Now go forth and integrate! Happy coding!