Can I specify a specific branch on GitHub pull-only (read-only)?

Question

Is there a way to set a specific branch on GitHub to pull-only (read-only) or can I only set this for the whole repository?

Answer 1

You actually can (sort of), since September 2015.

That is because you now have "Protected branches and required status checks" (September 3, 2015), which allows you to protect a branch:

• against forced pushed
• against deletion
• against merged changes until required status checks pass

As mentioned in the twitter discussion:

@github nice, what about protect from just push and allow only operating through pull requests?

Adam Roben ‏@aroben @lowl4tency You can do this via the Status API:
create a "success" status only on commits in PRs, then mark that status as required.

---

Since Nov. 2015, you can protect a branch with the API:

curl "https://api.github.com/repos/github/hubot/branches/master" \
  -XPATCH \
  -H 'Authorization: token TOKEN'
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.loki-preview" \
  -d '{
    "protection": {
      "enabled": true,
      "required_status_checks": {
        "enforcement_level": "everyone",
        "contexts": [
          "required-status"
        ]
      }
    }
  }'

How can I try it?

To access this functionality during the preview period, you’ll need to provide the following custom media type in the Accept header:

application/vnd.github.loki-preview+json

---

Since March 2016, Organizations can now specify which members and teams are able to push to a protected branch.

Answer 2

There is no way to do branch level permissions on Github, but the gitolite project supports what you're looking for.