---
title: On-demand GitHub source materialization
description: Resolves a GitHub org/repo coordinate to a registry source.
---
# On-demand GitHub source materialization

`POST https://api.releases.sh/v1/lookups`

Resolves a GitHub `org/repo` coordinate to a registry source. Idempotent — if the source already exists, returns it with `status: "existing"`; otherwise probes GitHub, inserts a hidden `on_demand` source row (and a new `on_demand` org when no curated org claims the segment), and ingests up to 100 releases.

Negative results (`not_found`, `empty`) are cached in KV (24h and 6h respectively) so repeat probes don't re-hit GitHub. `deferred` outcomes (rate-limit, 5xx) are not cached and let the next cron pass retry.

Body requires `provider: "github"` — other providers are explicitly rejected, not silently accepted. Coordinate must match `{org}/{repo}` (case-insensitive; URLs are deduped via `LOWER(sources.url)`).

**Auth:** Bearer token required.

**Request body** (`application/json`)

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `provider` | string | yes |  |
| `coordinate` | string | yes |  |

**Responses**

- `200` Lookup result. Inspect `status` to disambiguate outcomes.
- `400` Missing JSON body, unsupported provider, or malformed coordinate

Full request and response schemas: [OpenAPI 3.1 spec](https://api.releases.sh/v1/openapi.json).