GitHub API Comparison: Issue Events vs Issue Timeline

github-timeline-events-comparison.md

GitHub API Comparison: Issue Events vs Issue Timeline

• Timeline API Preview Announcement
• GitHub API: Issue Events
• GitHub API: Issue Timeline

Payload Attributes

events	timeline	Attribute	Description
✔	✔	id	The Integer ID of the event.
✔	✔	url	The API URL for fetching the event.
✔	✔	actor	The User object that generated the event.
✔	✔	commit_id	The String SHA of a commit that referenced this Issue.
✔	✔*	commit_url	The GitHub API link to a commit that referenced this Issue (*undocumented)
✔	✔	event	Identifies the actual type of Event that occurred.
✔	✔	created_at	The timestamp indicating when the event occurred.
✔	✔	label	The Label object including name and color attributes. Only provided for labeled and unlabeled events.
✔	✔	assignee	The User object which was assigned to (or unassigned from) this Issue. Only provided for assigned and unassigned events.
✔	✔	assigner	The User object that performed the assignment (or unassignment) for this Issue. Only provided for assigned and unassigned events.
✔	✔	milestone	The Milestone object including a title attribute. Only provided for milestoned and demilestoned events.
	✔	source	The id, actor, and url for the source of a reference from another issue. Only provided for cross-referenced events.
✔	✔	rename	An object containing rename details including from and to attributes. Only provided for renamed events.

Event Types

events	timeline	Event	Description
✔	✔	assigned	The issue was assigned to the actor.
✔	✔	closed	The issue was closed by the actor. When the commit_id is present, it identifies the commit that closed the issue using "closes / fixes #NN" syntax.
	✔	commented	A comment was added to the issue.
	✔	committed	A commit was added to the pull request's HEAD branch. Only provided for pull requests.
	✔	cross-referenced	The issue was referenced from another issue. The source attribute contains the id, actor, and url of the reference's source.
✔	✔	demilestoned	The issue was removed from a milestone.
✔*	✔*	deployed	The pull request was deployed. (*undocumented)
✔	✔	head_ref_deleted	The pull request's branch was deleted.
✔	✔	head_ref_restored	The pull request's branch was restored.
✔	✔	labeled	A label was added to the issue.
✔	✔	locked	The issue was locked by the actor.
✔	✔	mentioned	The actor was @mentioned in an issue body.
✔	✔	merged	The issue was merged by the actor. The commit_id attribute is the SHA1 of the HEAD commit that was merged.
✔	✔	milestoned	The issue was added to a milestone.
✔	✔	referenced	The issue was referenced from a commit message. The commit_id attribute is the commit SHA1 of where that happened.
✔	✔	renamed	The issue title was changed.
✔	✔	reopened	The issue was reopened by the actor.
✔	✔	subscribed	The actor subscribed to receive notifications for an issue.
✔	✔	unassigned	The actor was unassigned from the issue.
✔	✔	unlabeled	A label was removed from the issue.
✔	✔	unlocked	The issue was unlocked by the actor.
	✔	unsubscribed	The actor unsubscribed to stop receiving notifications for an issue.

Some observations...

• deployed event does not include any useful information about the deployment. At least the applicable deployment or deployment status is necessary for this to be useful, though a more complete payload would avoid N+1 situations.
• New committed payload includes commit details! ✨
  • Would be awesome to get the same details for referenced.
  • referenced test issue: https://api.github.com/repos/huboard-testing/spooky-octo-pug/issues/1/timeline
• New commented payload includes comment details! ✨
  • Does not seem to respect full+json, despite X-GitHub-Media-Type: github.mockingbird-preview; param=full; format=json
  • Complicated by overlapping preview periods, but it would be great if this also included reactions (like comment details).

As @dahlbyk mentioned, getting the same level of details for referenced would be extremely helpful and would help us avoid N+1 queries for items like commit references!

Thanks for putting this together!