Download a single file from a private GitHub repo. You'll need an access token as described in this GitHub Help article: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-an-access-token-for-command-line-use

gistfile1.sh

curl -H 'Authorization: token INSERTACCESSTOKENHERE' -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github.v3.raw' -O -L https://api.github.com/repos/owner/repo/contents/path

when using -O to save a file with the same name, it includes request params in the file name. so i prefer setting ref via -d like this:

curl -GLOf -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN?not set}" -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v4.raw" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/$ORG/$REPO/contents/$FILEPATH" -d ref="$REVISION"

-G causes data (specified by -d) to be added as URL request params, but not the saved filename. -f ensures if there is an issue, like 401 bad auth, the command returns an error instead of just saving the file with the error response.

I've created this simple gist in case someone needs to download a json file from a private repository and use it as a dictionary: https://gist.github.com/porthunt/b994154c054deeab7ab4073273aa75bc

I get:

curl: (6) Could not resolve host: application
{
  "message": "Not Found",
  "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest/repos/contents#get-repository-content",
  "status": "404"
}

I'm on windows, if that makes a difference.

My command is structured as follow:
curl -H 'Fine_Grain_Auth_Token_With_Readonly_permissions' -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github.v4.raw' -L https://api.github.com/repos/MYACCOUNT/MYREPO/contents/Bin/file.txt

I am able to access the file with a url like this (when signed in)
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MYACCOUNT/MYREPO/main/Bin/file.txt
I have also tried having the /main in the url in the command with no change.

@W1BTR You need to pay attention to the token scope, if the repository is on another organisation repo, when you generate the PAT choose that organisation instead of your own GH account.

I had the same issue and re-created the token on the correct organization. The URL is fine. Also one must use Accept: application/vnd.github.raw+json for RAW file content.