Python script to delete all GitHub Packages for a user

delete_packages.py

# Generated by ChatGPT, with human assistance. https://chat.openai.com/share/04da796e-fff7-402f-8608-a2439027395a
import requests

def list_packages(username, token):
    packages = []
    page = 1
    per_page = 100  # Adjust as needed, maximum is 100

    while True:
        # Change `package_type` to fetch types of packages other than NuGet. Also change in `delete_packages`.
        url = f"https://api.github.com/users/{username}/packages?package_type=nuget&page={page}&per_page={per_page}"
        headers = {
            "Accept": "application/vnd.github.v3+json",
            "Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"
        }

        response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
        if response.status_code == 200:
            page_packages = response.json()
            if not page_packages:
                break
            packages.extend(page_packages)
            page += 1
        else:
            print(f"Failed to retrieve packages. Status code: {response.status_code}")
            print(response.text)
            break

    return packages

def delete_packages(username, token, packages):
    if not packages:
        return

    for package in packages:
        package_name = package["name"]
        url = f"https://api.github.com/user/packages/nuget/{package_name}"
        headers = {
            "Accept": "application/vnd.github.v3+json",
            "Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"
        }

        response = requests.delete(url, headers=headers)
        if response.status_code == 204:
            print(f"Deleted package: {package_name}")
        else:
            print(f"Failed to delete package: {package_name}")
            print(response.text)

# Replace with your GitHub username and personal access token
username = "your_username"
token = "your_personal_access_token"

# List all NuGet packages
packages = list_packages(username, token)

# Delete NuGet packages
delete_packages(username, token, packages)

I had forked a repository that used GitHub Actions as a CI. Enabling and running the Actions resulted in ~300 NuGet packages being added to my account to be used as a cache for further runs. Deleting the fork did not delete the packages, and I'm unaware of an easier way to bulk delete packages.

I used ChatGPT as an experiment, to see if asking it to write a script for me was quicker than writing it myself. It took me around 30 minutes to get the script working, which I suspect is around the same amount of time it would have taken me to do it myself. I still think it's an interesting outcome, nevertheless.