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Importing GitHub Data

PostedFebruary 1, 2025
UpdatedFebruary 1, 2025
ByAnas Kakuwala
This guide will walk through how to pull data from the GitHub API and put it directly into Google Sheets.
Begin by acquiring a personal access token from GitHub, then setting up a request to pull data using Phlorin in Google Sheets.

Getting Started

Install the API solution add-on from Google Marketplace.

Begin by getting your GitHub API Access Token

To request data from GitHub you must first have an account. After this you can obtain a personal access token.
  1.  While logged into GitHub go to https://github.com/settings/tokens
  2. Click “Generate new token” or “Generate a personal access token.”

3. The following setup screen will have you choose an expiration date and a description of the token.

It also allows you to select additional scopes, none will be required.

4. Once the description and expiration are inputted, click the “Generate token” button.

5. Next it will show your personal access token. Copy this now.

6. Before this token can be used in Google Sheets, it needed to be encoded in base 64 for authentication purposes.

You can do this in your browser by opening Developer tools: (F12 on Windows/Linux or option + ⌘ + J on OSX).

Open the console, type in the following and click enter:
encodedData = “Basic ” + window.btoa(‘YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME+YOUR_PERSONAL_TOKEN‘)

Adapting the code to your needs:To adapt the code to your GitHub username and personal access token, update the following from the example below:

In the example, the username: USER123 is specific to this user’s GitHub username. Replace it with your own.

The personal access token: github_token123ABCD, is specific to this user’s GitHub token. Take your copied token and paste it there.

EXAMPLE: encodedData = “Basic ” +
window.btoa(‘USER123+github_token123ABCD‘)

7. With the token encoded in base 64, you are now authorized to use it in Google Sheets.

Pull GitHub data into Sheets

To get the most out of GitHub, use Phlorin to pull data seamlessly into Google Sheets.

1. In your desired Sheets document, open Phlorin and create a new request:
Extensions > Phlorin > Open > Create a request

2. In the Application dropdown select or search for GitHub

3. Select the desired endpoint.

In this example we will select the endpoint: “/user.” This endpoint does not require any additional data other than the encoded personal access token.

4. Enter your encoded personal access token with the word “Basic” and a space before it.

EXAMPLE: “Basic Z2l0aHViX3BhdF8xMUJIWkFWT”

5. Select the desired sheet and click Run.

Creating Custom Request

With Phlorin and GitHub’s API documentation you can find URLs to run custom requests. Search their documentation for the desired request and adapt the URL to suit your needs.

This example shows how to use Phlorin to fetch data from GitHub.

Application: Custom
Method: GET
Request URL: https://api.airtable.com/v0/meta/bases/app12345/tables
OAuth: None (Coming Soon)

Headers:
Key: Authorization
Value: Basic (your-ENCODED-personal-access-token)

Handling Pagination

Stayed tuned. Detailed instructions coming soon.

Documentation

GitHub’s official API documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference

Phlorin