Use Case:
A GitHub service account’s PAT is required to fetch complete repository details, including commit information, in two scenarios:

• Organization Membership: The service account is a member of an organization containing the target private repository.
• Repository Collaboration: The service account is a collaborator on an organization’s private repository with read/write access.

Problem:
I’m encountering difficulties retrieving a list of repositories where my GitHub service account is a collaborator using its Personal Access Token (PAT). Despite having the necessary permissions, I’m unable to retrieve the desired information using the GET /user/repos endpoint with the affiliation=collaborator parameter.

I’ve explored different approaches, including creating PATs with various ownership models:

• Service Account Owned PAT: Faces limitations in accessing organization-level data.
• Organization Owned PAT: Provides broader access but requires additional management.

I’m seeking guidance on overcoming these challenges, identifying the optimal PAT configuration, and effectively retrieving collaborator repositories using a service account.

Specific Issues:

• Inconsistent results when using different PAT ownership models.
• Difficulty in determining the exact permissions required for successful retrieval.
• Limitations of the GET /user/repos endpoint in this context.
• Tried the required scopes(content scope, repo scope) in PAT creation but ending up with 404(Not Found) error
• Not able to fetch the repos and it’s details of which the GitHub service is collaborator of.

I’ve attempted the following approaches:

• Creating a PAT with different ownership models: Tried creating PATs owned by the service account and the organization to see if ownership affects access to collaborator repositories.

• Experimenting with different scopes: Tested various combinations of scopes, including repo and admin:org, to determine the necessary permissions.

• Utilizing the GET /user/repos, /repos/{owner}/{repo}/collaborators, repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits endpoint: Employed this endpoint repositories, collaborators and commits.

• Error handling: Implemented basic error handling to identify potential API rate limits or other issues.

• Sample API code tried : I am working on python so tried the below also tried oon

  url = f'https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits'
      headers = {
          'Authorization': f'token {token}',
          'Accept': 'application/vnd.github.v3+json'
      }
  
  response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
  

I expected to successfully retrieve a list of repositories where the service account is a collaborator, along with their details, using the appropriate PAT configuration and API endpoint. However, I consistently encountered issues like 404 errors and incomplete data retrieval.

Additional Notes:

• I’ve verified that the service account has the necessary permissions within the organization.
• I’ve considered potential API rate limits and implemented basic retry mechanisms.

Expected Output:

• A list of repositories where the service account is a collaborator or could be a member of that organization with required read permissions of private repos, including details like name, owner, URL, and commit information.