AnswerDotAI / AnswerDotAI/ghapi
Same ghapi version returns different results depending on fastcore version (JSON `null` → empty `AttrDict`)
- Lenguaje dominante
- Python
- Estrellas
- 685
- Forks
- 70
- Merge medio
- 1 min
- PR fusionados (30 d)
- 2
Descripción
### Summary
When using the same ghapi version, the return value of API calls changes depending on the fastcore dependency version.
Specifically, JSON `null` values from the GitHub REST API (e.g. repository `description`) are returned as:
- `None` with `fastcore==1.8.16`
- empty `fastcore.basics.AttrDict` (`{}`) with `fastcore==1.11.2`
This breaks the semantic meaning of the API response and causes downstream issues (e.g. database storage, business logic).
### Why this is a problem
- GitHub API explicitly defines `description: null` as “no value”
- In Python, this should map to `None`
- `{}` (empty mapping) has a different semantic meaning than `None`
- The behavior changes without changing the ghapi version, only by upgrading a dependency
From a user’s perspective, this means:
> The same ghapi version produces different API results depending on dependency resolution
This breaks API contract stability and reproducibility.
### Environment
Component | Version
-- | --
ghapi | 1.0.8
fastcore (local) | 1.8.16
fastcore (sam) | 1.11.2
Python | 3.10.19
### Reproduction Code
```python
from ghapi.core import GhApi
api = GhApi(token="*******", owner="ORG_NAME")
batch = api.repos.list_for_org("ORG_NAME", per_page=1, page=1)
r0 = batch[0]
print("item:", r0.get("description"), type(r0.get("description")))
print("attr:", r0.description, type(r0.description))
print("has key:", "description" in r0)
```
### Actual Results
With `fastcore==1.11.2`
```shell
item: {}
attr: {}
has key: True
```
With `fastcore==1.8.16`
```shell
item: None
attr: None
has key: True
```
### Expected Behavior
JSON `null` values from the GitHub API should consistently map to Python `None`, regardless of fastcore version.
At minimum, ghapi should:
- Preserve the semantic meaning of `null`
- Or pin / constrain fastcore versions to avoid silent behavior changes
### Additional Notes
- The conversion appears to happen during `fastcore.dict2obj` processing
- ghapi currently forwards this behavior directly to users
- This is not a database or SQLAlchemy issue — the value is already `{}` immediately after the ghapi call
This behavior change is unexpected, breaking, and difficult to detect, especially in data ingestion pipelines.
I believe this is worth addressing either in ghapi itself or through tighter fastcore integration.
Thanks for your work on ghapi.
Guía de contribución
Línea de trabajo
Comienza con la reproducción de GhApi del issue y compara la conversión de la respuesta con fastcore 1.8.16 y 1.11.2, centrándote en el procesamiento de fastcore.dict2obj indicado en el informe. Se considera completado cuando los valores null del JSON de GitHub siguen siendo de forma coherente Python None en todas las versiones compatibles de fastcore, con el comportamiento verificado mediante la llamada mostrada para listar repositorios.
Escrito por el modelo de indexación a partir del texto del issue.
Evaluación
- Stack tecnológico
- python
- Área
- api
- Tipo de issue
- Error
- Dificultad
- 4/5
- Tiempo estimado
- 3-5 días
- Estado de actividad
- Estancado
- Claridad
- Bastante claro
- Aptitud para principiantes
- 42/100