GitHub introduced an API to rename a branch which implements most, if not all, what this plugin used to do.

Octokit plugin to rename a branch in a github repository

<script type="module">
  import { Octokit } from "https://cdn.pika.dev/@octokit/core";
  import {
    renameBranch,
    composeRenameBranch,
  } from "https://cdn.pika.dev/octokit-plugin-rename-branch";
</script>

const { Octokit } = require("@octokit/core");
const {
  renameBranch,
  composeRenameBranch,
} = require("octokit-plugin-rename-branch");

const MyOctokit = Octokit.plugin(renameBranch);
const octokit = new MyOctokit({
  // create token at https://github.com/settings/tokens/new
  auth: "my-token-123",
});

octokit.renameBranch({
  owner: "octocat",
  repo: "hello-world",
  current_name: "master",
  name: "main",
});

You can use composeRenameBranch directly, too.

composeRenameBranch(octokit, {
  owner: "octocat",
  repo: "hello-world",
  current_name: "master",
  name: "main",
});

1. Creates a new reference using the sha of the last commit of current_branch (POST /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs)
2. Updates the default branch of the repository (PATCH /repos/:owner/:repo)
3. Updates branch protection to the new branch name if applicable (GraphQL mutation updateBranchProtectionRule)
4. Look for open pull requests and update the base branch if it’s current_branch (PATCH /repos/:owner/:repo/pulls/:pull_number)
5. Delete current_branch (DELETE /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs/:ref)

This library is meant to simplify the process of renaming branch names of GitHub repositories.

By default, both Git and GitHub use master for their main branch. I think Git & GitHub should follow the lead of tech communities such as Django, Drupal and CouchDB and replace master with non-offensive term, such as latest or main.

MIT