A lot of open-source software is hosted by GitHub these days. This includes such powerful tools like Windows Terminal or the Visual Studio Code editor.
GitHub offers public web services to query repository details for registered organizations (such as Microsoft), so if you’d like to find out whether there are new releases for a particular software, try querying the web service.
The example below queries details for the “Windows Terminal” repository inside the organization “Microsoft”:
PS> $url = 'https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/releases/latest'
PS> Invoke-RestMethod -UseBasicParsing -Uri $url
url : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/releases/34250658
assets_url : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/releases/34250658/assets
upload_url : https://uploads.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/releases/34250658/asse
ts{?name,label}
html_url : https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases/tag/v1.4.3243.0
id : 34250658
author : @{login=DHowett; id=189190; node_id=MDQ6VXNlcjE4OTE5MA==;
avatar_url=https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/189190?v=4;
gravatar_id=; url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett;
html_url=https://github.com/DHowett;
followers_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/followers; following_ur
l=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/following{/other_user};
gists_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/gists{/gist_id};
starred_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/starred{/owner}{/repo};
subscriptions_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/subscriptions;
organizations_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/orgs;
repos_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/repos;
events_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/events{/privacy};
received_events_url=https://api.github.com/users/DHowett/received_events;
type=User; site_admin=False}
node_id : MDc6UmVsZWFzZTM0MjUwNjU4
tag_name : v1.4.3243.0
target_commitish : main
name : Windows Terminal v1.4.3243.0
draft : False
prerelease : False
created_at : 2020-11-20T21:34:28Z
published_at : 2020-11-20T21:43:33Z
assets : {@{url=https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/releases/assets/285
75927; id=28575927; node_id=MDEyOlJlbGVhc2VBc3NldDI4NTc1OTI3;
name=Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_1.4.3243.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle;
label=; uploader=; content_type=application/octet-stream; state=uploaded;
size=22834909; download_count=28268; created_at=2020-11-20T21:43:26Z;
updated_at=2020-11-20T21:43:28Z; browser_download_url=https://github.com/m
icrosoft/terminal/releases/download/v1.4.3243.0/Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_
1.4.3243.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle}, @{url=https://api.github.com/repos/m
icrosoft/terminal/releases/assets/28575931; id=28575931;
node_id=MDEyOlJlbGVhc2VBc3NldDI4NTc1OTMx; name=Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_1
.4.3243.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle_Windows10_PreinstallKit.zip; label=;
uploader=; content_type=application/zip; state=uploaded; size=22311138;
download_count=5063; created_at=2020-11-20T21:43:31Z;
updated_at=2020-11-20T21:43:32Z; browser_download_url=https://github.com/m
icrosoft/terminal/releases/download/v1.4.3243.0/Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_
1.4.3243.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle_Windows10_PreinstallKit.zip}}
tarball_url : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/tarball/v1.4.3243.0
zipball_url : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/zipball/v1.4.3243.0
body : This is a quick servicing release to address a couple glaring issues in
the 1.4 stable release.
A [preinstallation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/desktop/
deploy-preinstalled-apps) kit is available for system integrators and
OEMs interested in prepackaging Windows Terminal with a Windows image.
More information is available in the [DISM documentation on preinstallatio
n](https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/preinst
all-apps-using-dism). Users who do not intend to preinstall Windows
Terminal should continue using the _msixbundle_ distribution.
Bugs fixed in this release:
* We reverted the tab switcher to _off by default_, because we changed
your defaults on you so that tab switching was both enabled and _in
most-recently-used order_. I'm sorry about that. (#8325)
* To turn the switcher back on, in MRU order, add the global setting
`"useTabSwitcher": true`.
* We'd previously said the default value for `backgroundImageStretch` was
`uniformToFill`, but it was actually `fill`. We've updated the code to
make it `uniformToFill`. (#8280)
* The tab switcher used to occasionally eat custom key bindings and
break, but @Don-Vito came through and helped it not do that. Thanks!
(#8250)
From this rich set of information, you could pick the details you need to know, i.e. the latest download locations in various formats:
$url = 'https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/releases/latest' $info = Invoke-RestMethod -UseBasicParsing -Uri $url [PSCustomObject]@{ TAR = $info.tarball_url ZIP = $info.zipball_url AppX = $info.Assets.Browser_Download_url[0] } | Format-List
The result then looks like this:
TAR : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/tarball/v1.4.3243.0
ZIP : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/terminal/zipball/v1.4.3243.0
AppX : https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases/download/v1.4.3243.0/Microsoft.WindowsT
erminal_1.4.3243.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle
