run-script

name	run-script
description	Execute any the-power script with guided parameter input. Covers prerequisites, working directory, output interpretation, HTTP status codes, error patterns, and debugging techniques.
keywords	["run","execute","script","output","HTTP","status","error","debug","curl"]

Run Script

Execute scripts from the-power and interpret their output.

Working directory

All scripts must be run from the root of a the-power repository clone (the directory containing build-testcase, configure.py, and .gh-api-examples.conf).

Find an existing clone:

find ~ -maxdepth 5 -name "build-testcase" -path "*/the-power/*" 2>/dev/null

Prerequisites

1. .gh-api-examples.conf must exist. Generate with python3 configure.py.
2. Required tools: jq, curl, python3, bash 5.x.
3. A valid PAT configured in .gh-api-examples.conf.

Before running

Verify the target org is accessible:

./get-an-organization.sh

If it returns 404, either create the org first (see create-test-org) or use build-all.sh.

How to run

Orchestrated testcases

./build-testcase                       # repo with PR, issue, release
./build-testcase-workflow-simple       # GitHub Actions workflow
./build-testcase-secret-scanning       # secret scanning setup

Individual scripts

./create-repo.sh                       # create a repository
./create-branch.sh                     # create a branch
./create-pull-request.sh               # open a pull request
./list-organization-members.sh         # list org members
./get-a-repo.sh                        # get repo details

Most scripts accept an optional positional argument to override the default resource name:

./create-repo.sh my-custom-repo
./delete-repo.sh my-custom-repo
./list-team-members.sh my-team-slug

Understanding output

Success indicators

HTTP status	Meaning
200	Retrieved or updated successfully
201	Created successfully — look for html_url in the response
204	Deleted successfully (no content)

Failure patterns

HTTP status	Meaning	Common cause
401	Unauthorised	Token expired, invalid, or missing
403	Forbidden	Token lacks required scopes
404	Not Found	Resource does not exist, or token cannot see it
422	Validation Failed	Payload malformed or resource already exists

Example error

{
  "message": "Validation Failed",
  "errors": [{"resource": "Repository", "field": "name",
              "message": "name already exists on this account"}]
}

Verifying results

./list-repo.sh                         # repo details
./list-branches.sh                     # branches
./list-pull-requests.sh                # PRs
./list-repository-issues.sh            # issues
./list-repository-webhooks.sh          # webhooks
./get-branch-protection.sh             # branch protection rules

Debugging

Inspect JSON payloads

Scripts write request bodies to tmp/ before sending:

cat tmp/create-pull-request.json | jq .

Verbose curl

Set curl_custom_flags to -v for HTTP debugging:

python3 gh-set-value.py --key curl_custom_flags --value "-v"

Base64 encoding

Always use python3 base64encode.py for base64 encoding. Never use the native base64 CLI tool — it behaves inconsistently across platforms.

Error handling

• If a script fails silently, check tmp/ for the JSON payload.
• If curl returns an empty response, check curl_custom_flags includes --fail-with-body.
• For SSL errors on GHES, see the troubleshoot skill.

Boundaries

• Do not run destructive scripts (delete-*, suspend-*) without explicit user confirmation.
• Do not display the full GITHUB_TOKEN. Show only the first 8 characters.
• Do not modify .gh-api-examples.conf directly unless asked. Use python3 gh-set-value.py to change individual values.
• Always confirm the target instance before running scripts that create or delete resources.