Bash function to clone the latest tagged version of a repo

git-clone-latest

#!/usr/bin/env bash

LATEST_TAG="$(curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/$1/$2/tags | grep -Po '"name": "\K.*?(?=")' | head -1)"

echo "Cloning $LATEST_TAG"

if [ "$3" = "-https" ]; then
  git clone https://github.com/$1/$2.git --branch $LATEST_TAG
else
  git clone git@github.com:$1/$2.git --branch $LATEST_TAG
fi

# Usage (defaults to cloning with SSH):
# git clone-latest asdf-vm asdf
# git clone-latest asdf-vm asdf https

# Notes: 
# This will result in cloning the repository and detaching the head, as per the docs.
# The latest tag is not necessarily the latest release: this command simply takes the top most entry of the 
# JSON response. If wanting to check the order and see all available tags do:
# 
# curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/$USER/$REPO/tags | grep -Po '"name": "\K.*?(?=")'

Note: this will result in cloning the repository and detaching the head, as per the docs.

Important: the latest tag is not necessarily the latest release!

This command simply takes the top most entry of the the JSON response. If wanting to check the order and see all available tags do:

curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/$USER/$REPO/tags | grep -Po '"name": "\K.*?(?=")'