octokit-pagination-methods

This package exists purely as a compatibility shim for the deprecated pagination API from Octokit v15. In production, you'll immediately notice it lacks any modern operational affordances - no timeout configuration, no retry policies, and minimal error context when rate limits hit. The pagination methods work for simple cases but provide no hooks for observability or custom logging.

Resource management is concerning. There's no built-in connection pooling control, and the library doesn't expose any way to configure request behavior under load. When you hit GitHub's rate limits, error messages are opaque and don't help with debugging. The last release in 2018 means it's frozen in time - no updates for API changes, security patches, or performance improvements.

If you're maintaining legacy code, it serves its narrow purpose. But for any new project or production system where you care about reliability, you should use the modern Octokit pagination methods (`octokit.paginate()`) which provide proper TypeScript support, better error handling, and are actively maintained.

This package exists solely to maintain backward compatibility with Octokit v15's pagination API, which was deprecated years ago. In practice, it's a thin wrapper that adds legacy methods like `getNextPage()` and `getLastPage()` on top of modern Octokit instances. The code itself is straightforward but the package hasn't been updated since 2018, which raises immediate red flags from a security perspective.

The primary concern is the stale dependency tree. While the package itself is small, it depends on authentication and request-handling code from the Octokit ecosystem circa 2018. GitHub's API authentication standards have evolved significantly since then, and older token formats and TLS configurations may not align with current best practices. Error handling is minimal - failed pagination attempts expose raw API errors without sanitization, potentially leaking token details in stack traces.

For new projects, use Octokit's native iterator-based pagination (`octokit.paginate()`) instead. This legacy package should only be considered if you're maintaining ancient code and cannot refactor, and even then, plan migration away from it immediately.

This package is explicitly marked as legacy code from Octokit v15, and it shows in the developer experience. It provides basic pagination methods like `getNextPage`, `getLastPage`, and `getFirstPage`, but the approach feels dated compared to modern async iteration patterns. The documentation is minimal, mostly consisting of migration notes pointing you toward newer Octokit versions.

In practice, you'll find yourself wrestling with callback-style pagination when async iterators would be cleaner. Error messages are sparse - if pagination fails or you hit rate limits, you're largely on your own to debug. The package hasn't been updated since 2018, and GitHub issues go unanswered. Common problems like handling rate limiting or dealing with large result sets require rolling your own solutions.

The main value here is maintaining compatibility with very old codebases. If you're starting fresh or can modernize, the current `@octokit/rest` with `octokit.paginate()` offers superior ergonomics, better TypeScript support, and active maintenance.