Manual Releases API for GitKraken Insights

Last updated: August 2026

The Manual Releases API lets you record releases in GitKraken Insights that aren’t captured automatically from your git provider — for example, releases cut by an external CI/CD system, deploys to a platform GitKraken doesn’t read, or historical releases you want to backfill.

Manual releases appear alongside automatically detected releases in Insights reporting, and contribute to release-based metrics such as Deployment Frequency.

Plan: GitKraken Insights
Role: An account that can create API keys for your organization
Base URL: https://api.gitkraken.dev

Generate an API key

1. Go to your account on gitkraken.dev: https://gitkraken.dev/account.
2. Open the Security settings tab.
3. Under API keys, click Create API key.
4. Give the key a name, choose the organization it applies to, and set an expiration.
5. Click Create API key.
6. Copy the key and store it somewhere secure — GitKraken shows it only once.

Your key looks like gk_tkn_….

Treat the key as a password. Never commit it to source control, paste it into a shared document, or send it over chat. If a key is exposed, delete it in the Security tab and create a replacement.

Authenticate

Send the key as a bearer token on every request:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

In the examples below, set the key as an environment variable so it never appears in your shell history or scripts:

export GK_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"

Create a manual release

POST /v1/insights/analytics/releases

Records a manual release. The id must be unique within the repository — reusing an existing id returns 400.

Request body

Content type: application/json

Example request

curl -i -X POST https://api.gitkraken.dev/v1/insights/analytics/releases 
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GK_API_KEY" 
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" 
  -d '{
    "id": "release-2026-07-09-01",
    "repo": "your-org/your-repo",
    "gitProvider": "github",
    "releasedAt": "2026-07-09T14:30:00Z",
    "tagName": "v1.4.0",
    "headBranch": "main"
  }'

Responses

Delete a manual release

DELETE /v1/insights/analytics/releases/{id}

Deletes a manual release. Only manual releases can be deleted — releases detected automatically from your git provider are not removable through this endpoint.

Path parameters

Query parameters

Both are required to identify the release, since id is only unique within a repository.

Example request

curl -i -X DELETE 
  "https://api.gitkraken.dev/v1/insights/analytics/releases/release-2026-07-09-01?gitProvider=github&repo=your-org%2Fyour-repo" 
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GK_API_KEY"

Responses

Error format

Error responses (400, 401, 403, 404, 500) return a JSON body:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "A description of what went wrong"
  }
}

Related pages

• Connect Your Data — Setting Up AI Adoption — where release tracking is configured for repositories Insights reads directly.
• DORA & Quality Metrics — the metrics releases feed: Deployment Frequency, Lead Time for Changes, and Change Failure Rate.