gitea-mirror/docs/API.md

API access with API keys

Gitea Mirror's web UI talks to a set of JSON endpoints under /api. With an API key you can call the same endpoints from scripts, CI pipelines and workflow tools such as n8n, without a browser session.

Create a key

1. Sign in and open Settings → Authentication.
2. In the API Keys section click Create key, give it a name and pick an expiry (never, 30 days, 90 days or a year).
3. Copy the key. It is shown once; afterwards only its first characters are visible in the list.

Keys start with gm_, belong to the user who created them and carry the same rights as that user's session. Revoke a key from the same list at any time. Keys are stored hashed. They are not rate limited, so a runaway script is stopped by revoking its key.

Send the key

Put the key in the x-api-key header. Every endpoint that accepts a session cookie accepts the header instead.

curl -sS "https://mirror.example.com/api/github/repositories" \
  -H "x-api-key: gm_..."

A missing, malformed, expired or revoked key gets 401 Unauthorized:

{ "success": false, "error": "Unauthorized" }

Send Content-Type: application/json on every POST, PUT, PATCH and DELETE, also when the call has no body. Without it a script gets 403 with Cross-site POST form submissions are forbidden: the app's protection against cross-site form posts treats a write with no content type, or a form content type, as a form unless its Origin header matches the app. curl's -d sends a form content type unless you set the header.

A path or method that has no endpoint answers 404 with a JSON body naming both, so it reads differently from a 404 for an id or name that was not found:

{ "success": false, "error": "No API endpoint for GET /api/organizations. Check the path and the HTTP method." }

If the app is served under a path prefix (BASE_URL=/mirror), prefix every URL with it: /mirror/api/....

Endpoints

The calls below cover the automation cases from issue #314. Response bodies show the fields you are most likely to use; the app returns more.

List tracked repositories

GET /api/github/repositories

Despite the name it lists every repository the account tracks, whatever the configured source. Requires a saved configuration, otherwise 404.

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Repositories fetched successfully",
  "repositories": [
    {
      "id": "9b2f...",
      "name": "hello-world",
      "fullName": "octocat/hello-world",
      "owner": "octocat",
      "organization": null,
      "status": "mirrored",
      "mirroredLocation": "github-mirrors/hello-world",
      "lastMirrored": "2026-09-02T08:00:00.000Z",
      "errorMessage": null,
      "destinationOrg": null,
      "sourceProvider": "github",
      "isPrivate": false
    }
  ]
}

status is one of imported, mirroring, mirrored, failed, syncing, synced, skipped, deleted, archived.

GET /api/repositories/{id} returns one of them in the same shape as { "success": true, "repository": { ... } }, or 404 when the id is not this account's. Use it to watch a single mirror without fetching the whole list.

Add a repository

POST /api/sync/repository

{ "owner": "octocat", "repo": "hello-world" }

Optional fields: destinationOrg to override the Gitea organization for this repository, force: true to refresh the metadata of a repository that is already tracked.

When the request comes from a pasted URL, also send its host as host and its path segments as path, for example ["octocat", "hello-world", "tree", "main"]. The host picks the connected source with that host (400 when none has it), and the source reads the repository from the segments: GitHub and Gitea take the first two, GitLab takes the nested groups up to /-/. owner and repo are still required.

The repository is looked up on the configured source and added with status imported. It is not mirrored until you start a mirror (next call) or the scheduler picks it up.

Status	Meaning
200	Added. repository.id is what the mirror call needs.
400	owner or repo missing, host matches no connected source, or no source is connected.
404	No configuration for this account, or the repository does not exist on the source.
409	Already tracked. repository is the stored record, so repository.id works as on 200. Send force: true to refresh its metadata instead.

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Repository added successfully",
  "repository": { "id": "9b2f...", "fullName": "octocat/hello-world", "status": "imported" }
}

Start a mirror

POST /api/job/mirror-repo

{ "repositoryIds": ["9b2f..."] }

Starts mirroring in the background and returns straight away. Poll GET /api/repositories/{id}, or the list, to watch status move from mirroring to mirrored or failed.

Status	Meaning
200	Job started. repositories lists what was queued.
400	repositoryIds missing or empty, or no source token saved.
404	None of the ids belong to this account.

POST /api/job/sync-repo takes the same body and re-syncs repositories that are already mirrored.

Organizations

POST /api/sync/organization adds an organization the same way:

{ "org": "my-org" }

role is optional. It is the account's role in that organization (member, admin, owner or billing_manager) and only labels the organization on the Organizations page. Without it a new organization is added as member, and a forced re-add keeps the stored role.

Status	Meaning
200	Added, with every repository the source lists in it. organization.id is what the mirror call needs.
400	org missing, an unknown role or provider, or no source is connected.
404	No configuration for this account, or the source has no organization of that name. A user account is not an organization: add its repositories one at a time with POST /api/sync/repository.
409	Already tracked. organization is the stored record. Send force: true to refresh it instead.

Then POST /api/job/mirror-org with { "organizationIds": ["..."] } mirrors its repositories. It takes ids, not names, and answers 404 when none of them belong to this account.

GET /api/github/organizations lists every tracked organization with its id, name, status and repository counts. GET /api/organizations/{id} returns one as { "success": true, "organization": { ... } }, without the public, private and fork counts, or 404 when the id is not this account's. An organization's status turns mirrored once every repository in it has been processed; each repository keeps its own status.

When several sources are connected, an optional sourceId picks which one the organization imports and mirrors from (the first connected source is the default):

{ "org": "my-org", "role": "member", "sourceId": "…" }

PATCH /api/organizations/:id with { "sourceId": "…" } re-pins an existing organization to another source, and { "sourceId": null } clears the pin so the organization follows every source's repositories of the same name again. A pin whose source was removed falls back the same way.

Export as CSV

GET /api/repositories/export and GET /api/organizations/export return everything the account tracks as a CSV file, so the list can be shared with people who do not have a login here (issue #428).

Both answer text/csv; charset=utf-8 with a download name such as gitea-mirror-repositories-2026-09-22.csv, start with a header row, use CRLF line endings and RFC 4180 quoting, and write dates as ISO strings and booleans as true or false. Repositories are ordered by full name, organizations by name. The export has no filters: it is every row of the account. Internal fields are left out, that is the ids, the metadata sync state and the mirror option overrides.

Repository columns: name, fullName, url, cloneUrl, owner, organization, sourceProvider, sourceUrl, destinationProvider, destinationUrl, destinationOrg, mirroredLocation, visibility, isPrivate, isForked, forkedFrom, isStarred, isArchived, hasLFS, hasSubmodules, hasIssues, language, description, defaultBranch, size, status, lastMirrored, errorMessage, importedAt, createdAt, updatedAt.

Organization columns: name, membershipRole, isIncluded, destinationOrg, status, repositoryCount, publicRepositoryCount, privateRepositoryCount, forkRepositoryCount, lastMirrored, errorMessage, createdAt, updatedAt.

curl -sS "https://mirror.example.com/api/repositories/export" \
  -H "x-api-key: gm_..." \
  -o repositories.csv

The Export CSV button on the Repositories and Organizations pages downloads the same files.

Reconcile the destination

POST /api/cleanup/reconcile

Compares what the destination (Gitea or Forgejo) holds with the repositories this account tracks, and reports four groups: mirrors on the destination that the database does not know about, rows whose mirror was moved to another owner, rows marked mirrored whose repository is gone, and a healthy count. Only mirrors whose source URL points at the configured source count as this app's. Native repositories, mirrors of other hosts and second copies of a tracked mirror are listed under notManaged and never touched. Useful after a lost or restored database (issue #284) or after transferring mirrors between owners in Gitea (issue #400).

{ "dryRun": true, "adoptUntracked": false, "relocateMoved": false, "resetMissing": false }

The body is optional and every field defaults to the value above, so an empty POST (with the JSON content type, see Send the key) is a dry run. With dryRun: false:

• adoptUntracked: true creates a row for each untracked mirror from its source URL, so scheduled sync and the cleanup service include it from then on. The row keeps the mirror where it is, even when the strategy would put it elsewhere.
• relocateMoved: true points each moved row at the owner that holds its mirror now, so sync follows the transfer instead of failing. A row that failed because its mirror was not at the recorded place goes back to mirrored. Nothing changes on the destination.
• resetMissing: true sets each missing row back to imported so the next mirror run recreates the mirror. Rows are never deleted.

Nothing is deleted or archived on either side by this call; the cleanup service keeps its own rules.

{
  "success": true,
  "dryRun": false,
  "report": {
    "untracked": [{ "location": "github-mirrors/hello-world", "originalUrl": "https://github.com/octocat/hello-world.git", "sourcePath": "octocat/hello-world", "isPrivate": false }],
    "missing": [{ "id": "9b2f...", "fullName": "octocat/gone", "location": "github-mirrors/gone" }],
    "moved": [{ "id": "c41a...", "fullName": "octocat/tools", "from": "github-mirrors/tools", "to": "archive/tools" }],
    "notManaged": [{ "location": "me/notes", "reason": "not a mirror" }],
    "unverified": [],
    "healthyCount": 40,
    "elsewhereCount": 0,
    "scannedOwners": ["e2e_admin", "github-mirrors", "archive"],
    "skippedOwners": ["starred"],
    "totalOnDestination": 43
  },
  "applied": { "adopted": 1, "reset": 1, "relocated": 1, "skipped": 0 }
}

applied is null on a dry run. scannedOwners are the destination users and organizations that were listed; skippedOwners are ones the configuration or the database point at but the destination does not have. A row lands in unverified when the presence check itself failed, and is left alone.

Status	Meaning
200	Report computed, and applied when asked.
400	A field has the wrong type, or the destination is not configured yet.
404	No configuration for this account.

Move a mirror to another owner

POST /api/repositories/{id}/move-mirror

{ "destinationOrg": "archive" }

Changes the repository's destination and transfers its existing mirror there on the destination (Gitea or Forgejo), for issue #400. PATCH /api/repositories/{id} with destinationOrg only changes the label: the mirror stays where it is and the new destination applies if the mirror is ever created again. Send null to remove the override and move the mirror back to where the strategy puts it.

The mirror is looked for at its recorded location first, then anywhere on the destination in case someone transferred it by hand. A target organization that does not exist is created, the way a mirror run creates one. When a mirror of the same source already sits under the target, the row is pointed at it and the old copy is left alone. The row is only written once the destination has accepted the transfer, so a refused move changes nothing.

{
  "success": true,
  "destinationOrg": "archive",
  "mirroredLocation": "archive/hello-world",
  "transfer": {
    "outcome": "moved",
    "from": "github-mirrors/hello-world",
    "to": "archive/hello-world",
    "message": "Moved octocat/hello-world from github-mirrors/hello-world to archive/hello-world."
  }
}

transfer.outcome	Meaning
moved	The destination moved the repository. mirroredLocation is the new place.
pending	The token cannot create repositories under the new owner, so the destination waits for one of its owners to accept. The mirror keeps syncing where it is, and sync follows it once accepted.
recorded	A mirror of the same source already sat under the target; the row now points at it.
not-mirrored	The row has never been mirrored, so only the destination changed.

Status	Meaning
200	Done, see transfer.
400	Bad owner name, destination not configured, or a GitHub or GitLab destination (destination-unsupported).
403	The destination token may not transfer the repository (forbidden).
404	The repository or the configuration does not belong to this account.
409	Nothing changed. code says why: not-on-destination, name-taken, transfer-pending, or destination-mismatch for a row mirrored to another host.
502	The destination refused for another reason (destination-error).

POST /api/organizations/{id}/move-mirrors does the same for every mirrored repository of an organization:

{ "destinationOrg": "archive", "dryRun": true }

dryRun defaults to true and answers with plan.moves (id, fullName, from, to) and plan.skipped (fullName, reason) without touching anything. Repositories with their own destination, starred repositories, rows that are not mirrored yet and rows in a running mirror or sync are skipped. With dryRun: false each planned move runs, the organization's destinationOrg is written, and the answer lists moved, pending, recorded and failed (fullName, error). A failed repository keeps syncing where it is.

A complete example

Add a repository and mirror it in one go:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

BASE="https://mirror.example.com"
KEY="gm_..."

added=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/api/sync/repository" \
  -H "x-api-key: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"owner":"octocat","repo":"hello-world"}')

id=$(echo "$added" | jq -r '.repository.id')

curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/api/job/mirror-repo" \
  -H "x-api-key: $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"repositoryIds\":[\"$id\"]}"

.repository.id is set on both 200 and 409, so the script works the same for a repository that is already tracked.

Managing keys from the API

Manage keys through the settings UI or with a browser session. The key endpoints need a session cookie, not a key, so a leaked key cannot mint more keys, and like every cookie-authenticated POST to /api/auth/* they also need an Origin header (browsers send it on their own; a script must add Origin: https://mirror.example.com). The key itself is only for the app routes above. The endpoints live under /api/auth/api-key/:

Call	Body	Result
POST /api/auth/api-key/create	{ "name": "ci", "expiresIn": 2592000 } (expiresIn in seconds, omit for no expiry)	The new key, including key, shown only here.
GET /api/auth/api-key/list		{ "apiKeys": [...], "total": n }. Each entry has id, name, start, createdAt, lastRequest and expiresAt, never the secret.
POST /api/auth/api-key/delete	{ "keyId": "..." }	Revokes the key.

Notes

• A key can only act on the account that created it. Each account keeps its own source, destination and repositories.
• Keys are not rate limited by the app. Source hosts still apply their own limits, and the app tracks GitHub's.
• Deleting a user deletes their keys.