Apply branch protection rules: required approvals
Apply branch protection rules: required approvals, required status checks, force-push and admin enforcement —
Request
- x-api-key: <your-api-key>
- Content-Type: application/json
Response
{
"action": "created",
"branch": "<branch>",
"ignored": [
"<ignored>"
],
"protection": {},
"provider": "castomapi",
"status": "success",
"tokensDeducted": 1
}What it does
Apply branch protection rules: required approvals, required status checks, force-push and admin enforcement —
Request
Parameters
| Field | In | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
owner | path | string | yes | |
repo | path | string | yes | |
x-git-provider | header | enum | no |
Body
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
allowForcePush | boolean | no | |
branch | string | yes | |
enforceAdmins | boolean | no | GitHub only — GitLab expresses protection purely as access levels |
requiredApprovals | integer | no | GitHub only — GitLab has no approval count on branch protection (approval rules are a separate, paid-tier resource), so this is reported back in "ignored" rather than applied |
requiredStatusChecks | array<string> | no | GitHub only — GitLab enforces pipeline success through project merge settings, not branch protection |
Example request
{
"allowForcePush": true,
"branch": "<branch>",
"enforceAdmins": true,
"requiredApprovals": 6,
"requiredStatusChecks": [
"<required status check>"
]
}Response
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
action | enum | GitLab distinguishes "created" from "updated" because it refuses to re-protect a branch, which tells us which happened. GitHub replaces existing protection and answers identically either way, so its result is reported as "applied" rather than guessed at One of: created, updated, applied. |
branch | string | |
ignored | array<string> | Fields the caller supplied that this provider cannot express, and which were therefore not applied |
protection | object | |
provider | string | |
status | string | |
tokensDeducted | integer |
Example response
{
"action": "created",
"branch": "<branch>",
"ignored": [
"<ignored>"
],
"protection": {},
"provider": "castomapi",
"status": "success",
"tokensDeducted": 1
}Errors
Every error answers with the same envelope: an HTTP status, a machine code and a sentence.
400 | The body or a parameter failed validation. The details array names the field. |
401 | No key, a revoked key or a wrong header. Send x-api-key. |
402 | The wallet cannot cover this call. Top up or wait for the monthly grant. |
404 | The resource does not exist, or it is not yours. Both answer identically and cost nothing. |
429 | Over the per-minute quota of your tier. Back off and retry. |
5xx | Upstream refused or timed out. The call is not billed. |
Code
curl -X POST 'https://app.castomapi.com/v1/git/repositories/{owner}/{repo}/branches/protection' \
-H 'x-api-key: <your-api-key>' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"allowForcePush": true, "branch": "<branch>", "enforceAdmins": true, "requiredApprovals": 6, "requiredStatusChecks": ["<required status check>"]}'const res = await fetch('https://app.castomapi.com/v1/git/repositories/{owner}/{repo}/branches/protection', {
method: 'POST',
headers: { 'x-api-key': '<your-api-key>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
body: JSON.stringify({"allowForcePush": true, "branch": "<branch>", "enforceAdmins": true, "requiredApprovals": 6, "requiredStatusChecks": ["<required status check>"]})
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);import { request } from 'node:https';
// Node 18+ has fetch built in
const res = await fetch('https://app.castomapi.com/v1/git/repositories/{owner}/{repo}/branches/protection', {
method: 'POST',
headers: { 'x-api-key': '<your-api-key>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
body: JSON.stringify({"allowForcePush": true, "branch": "<branch>", "enforceAdmins": true, "requiredApprovals": 6, "requiredStatusChecks": ["<required status check>"]})
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);import requests
res = requests.post(
'https://app.castomapi.com/v1/git/repositories/{owner}/{repo}/branches/protection',
headers={'x-api-key': '<your-api-key>'},
json={"allowForcePush": True, "branch": "<branch>", "enforceAdmins": True, "requiredApprovals": 6, "requiredStatusChecks": ["<required status check>"]},
timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())<?php
$ch = curl_init('https://app.castomapi.com/v1/git/repositories/{owner}/{repo}/branches/protection');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['x-api-key: <your-api-key>', 'Content-Type: application/json'],
CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode(['allowForcePush' => true, 'branch' => '<branch>', 'enforceAdmins' => true, 'requiredApprovals' => 6, 'requiredStatusChecks' => ['<required status check>']]),
]);
$data = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
print_r($data);Cost and limits
This operation costs 1 token. A call that fails is never billed. Every account gets 1000 free tokens a month; paid balances never expire.
Rate limits per minute
| No key | 10 |
| Free | 60 |
| Pro | 300 |
| Enterprise | 1200 |
Questions
What does Apply branch protection rules: required approvals cost?
1 token per successful call, debited from your wallet after the response. Failed calls are free. Every account receives 1000 free tokens a month.
How do I authenticate?
Send your key in the x-api-key header. One key covers every metered endpoint; there is nothing to enable per endpoint.
Can I send an Authorization: Bearer token instead?
Not for a metered endpoint — those take the x-api-key header and nothing else. Bearer tokens belong to the account side: the dashboard and account APIs accept a JWT session, and castomapi-auth issues those through a standard OAuth2 handshake, with authorization code, client credentials and refresh grants. The auth service page covers it.
What are the limits?
10 requests a minute per IP with no key at all, 60 a minute on the free tier, 300 on Pro, 1200 on Enterprise. Above the no-key tier the quota is per account, across every endpoint.
OpenAPI: https://app.castomapi.com/docs/json