How to determine a package's source repository via API or Client SDK?

[SeanKilleen]

Hi all,

I am attempting to locate the source repository URL of a NuGet package via the API or client SDK.

I'd assumed it would be returned with the PackageMetadataResource, but it looks like that only holds a project URL and not a source repo URL.

I've looked around in the client SDK and API and maybe I'm just missing it, but could someone point me to how to find my way to the highlighted link below programmatically?

Thanks!

[SeanKilleen]

Cross-posted on SO in clase anyone prefers to answer over there: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69676458/how-can-i-determine-a-nuget-package-source-repository-url-from-the-api-or-client

[michael-hawker]

Yeah, I was just wondering the difference between "Project Website" and "Source Repository" on nuget.org as well and where that information is coming from. As the NuGet Server API for package metadata only lists projectUrl which seems a bit ambiguous or maybe towards the former over the latter.

Any insight or clarity on the distinction of these two properties and how to retrieve/distinguish them (if possible in the API) would be great to know. Thanks!

FYI @nkolev92 is this something you can shed some light on for us? I'm trying to look up package dependencies and query NuGet to see if we can get a link to the GitHub/source for further inquiry/code-analysis; so, distinguishing this data is important for our scenario. Thanks! 🦙❤️

[michael-hawker]

Was just thinking about this more from another angle, does nuget.org just read directly from the nuspec/manifest and parse/grab the repository info from there? https://learn.microsoft.com/nuget/api/package-base-address-resource#download-package-manifest-nuspec

[nkolev92]

There are a bunch of concepts that are related, but not always equivalent. Nearly all of the metadata nuget.org exposes is read from the nuspec, save for something like owners which is a construct that nuget.org has.

• project website would be something like: https://www.newtonsoft.com/json. Equivalent to projectUrl from the nuspec. This is available in the metadata resource.
• source repository refers to the repository metadata in the nuspec, which usually is supposed to refer to the code. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/reference/nuspec#repository. This is not available in the metadata resource: [V3] Add source repository information NuGetGallery#6262. I think you'd need to use the content resource to download either the nupkg or the nuspec.

[michael-hawker]

Thanks @nkolev92 that's great info! Mind marking that as the answer for this discussion? (Or is that feature not enabled for your Q&A section?)