How to download latest private GitHub release with PowerShell script? #24683

bmils · 2021-03-25T15:44:49Z

bmils
Mar 25, 2021

Hello,

I recently wrote a PowerShell script that downloads the latest release from a public repo and that works as intended. However, I want to change my script so it can access my private repo. Here is the code I have tried so far:

# Download latest release from GitHub
$credentials="myPersonalAccessToken"
$headers = New-Object "System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[[String],[String]]"
$headers.Add("Authorization", "token $credentials")
$repo = "myUserName/MyPrivateReleaseRepo"

$file = "MyBinaries.zip"
$releases = "https://api.github.com/repos/$repo/releases"
Write-Host Determining latest release

$tag = (Invoke-WebRequest $releases -Headers $headers | ConvertFrom-Json)[0].tag_name
$download = "https://github.com/$repo/releases/download/$tag/$file"

$name = $file.Split(".")[0]

$zip = "$name-$tag.zip"

$dir = "$name-$tag"
Write-Host Dowloading latest release

Invoke-WebRequest $download -Out $zip
Write-Host Extracting release files

Expand-Archive $zip -Force
Cleaning up target dir
Remove-Item "C:\MyOutPutFolder$name" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Moving from temp dir to target dir
Move-Item $dir$name -Destination "C:\MyOutPutFolder$name" -Force
Removing temp files
Remove-Item $zip -Force

Remove-Item $dir -Recurse -Force

I get the following error when testing on my private repo:

Invoke-WebRequest : Not Found
At C:\Script\DownloadLatestGitHubRelease.ps1:25 char:1
+ Invoke-WebRequest $download -Out $zip
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-WebRequest], WebException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand

Am I using the access token incorrectly? As I said above the script works perfectly fine on my public repo and fails on my private repo.

Answered by sonibla

Nov 29, 2021

Hello there @bmils

I found a solution !

Simple version (without tag and folder): Download assets from private Github releases using PowerShell · GitHub

Version similar to your script:

# Download latest release from GitHub
$credentials="<github_access_token>"
$repo = "<user_or_org>/<repo_name>"
$file = "<name_of_asset_file>"
$folder="<folder_to_extract_to>"
$headers = New-Object "System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[[String],[String]]"

$headers.Add("Authorization", "token $credentials")

$releases = "https://api.github.com/repos/$repo/releases"
Write-Host Determining latest release

$id = ((Invoke-WebRequest $releases -Headers $headers | ConvertFrom-Json)[0].assets | where { $_.name -eq $fi…

View full answer

sonibla · 2021-11-29T10:47:53Z

sonibla
Nov 29, 2021

Hello there @bmils

I found a solution !

Simple version (without tag and folder): Download assets from private Github releases using PowerShell · GitHub

Version similar to your script:

# Download latest release from GitHub
$credentials="<github_access_token>"
$repo = "<user_or_org>/<repo_name>"
$file = "<name_of_asset_file>"
$folder="<folder_to_extract_to>"
$headers = New-Object "System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[[String],[String]]"

$headers.Add("Authorization", "token $credentials")

$releases = "https://api.github.com/repos/$repo/releases"
Write-Host Determining latest release

$id = ((Invoke-WebRequest $releases -Headers $headers | ConvertFrom-Json)[0].assets | where { $_.name -eq $file })[0].id

$tag = (Invoke-WebRequest $releases -Headers $headers | ConvertFrom-Json)[0].tag_name
$download = "https://" + $credentials + ":@api.github.com/repos/$repo/releases/assets/$id"

$name = $file.Split(".")[0]

$zip = "$name-$tag.zip"

$dir = "$name-$tag"
Write-Host Dowloading latest release

$headers.Add("Accept", "application/octet-stream")

$zip = "$name-$tag.zip"

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $download -Headers $headers -OutFile $zip
Write-Host Extracting release files

Expand-Archive $zip -Force
Cleaning up target dir
Remove-Item "$folder$name" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Moving from temp dir to target dir
Move-Item $dir$name -Destination "$folder$name" -Force
Removing temp files
Remove-Item $zip -Force

Remove-Item $dir -Recurse -Force

The Linux version helped me a lot: Download assets from private Github releases · GitHub

0 replies

livingod101 · 2023-08-16T22:53:02Z

livingod101
Aug 16, 2023

Is this still working for you? It does not work for me, get error:

Invoke-WebRequest : {"message":"Not Found","documentation_url":"https://docs.github.com/rest/releases/releases#list-releases"}
At line:11 char:9

1 reply

sonibla Sep 9, 2023

Yes it's still working (I actually use this script in a CI that runs multiple times a day)
To debug you could print the value of $id and check it actually match a file to download
Other troubleshooting ideas:
Maybe the token you're using doesn't give access to the repository/releases of the repository?
Or the latest release doesn't have any asset?

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GitHub Community

How to download latest private GitHub release with PowerShell script? #24683

bmils Mar 25, 2021

Cleaning up target dir

Moving from temp dir to target dir

Removing temp files

Replies: 2 comments · 1 reply

sonibla Nov 29, 2021

Cleaning up target dir

Moving from temp dir to target dir

Removing temp files

livingod101 Aug 16, 2023

sonibla Sep 9, 2023

bmils
Mar 25, 2021

Replies: 2 comments 1 reply

sonibla
Nov 29, 2021

livingod101
Aug 16, 2023