diff --git a/github-api.php b/github-api.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7edfc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/github-api.php
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+<?php 
+
+/**
+ * This class contains all the functions that actually retrieve information from the GitHub API
+ */
+class github_api {
+
+
+
+	/**
+	 * Get a repository from the GitHub API
+	 * @param  string $owner      The repository's owner
+	 * @param  string $repository The respository name
+	 * @return object             The response from the GitHub API
+	 */
+	public function get_repo ( $owner, $repository ) {
+
+		$owner = trim ( $owner, '/' );
+		$repository = trim ( $repository, '/' );
+
+		$results = wp_remote_get( "https://api.github.com/repos/$owner/$repository", $args = array (
+		              'user-agent' => 'WordPress Github oEmbed plugin - https://github.com/leewillis77/wp-github-oembed' ) );
+
+		if ( is_wp_error( $results ) ||
+		    ! isset ( $results['response']['code'] ) ||
+		    $results['response']['code'] != '200' ) {
+			header ( 'HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found' );
+			die ( 'Octocat is lost, and afraid' );
+		}
+
+		return json_decode ( $results['body'] );
+
+	}
+
+
+
+	/**
+	 * Get commit information for a repository from the GitHub API
+	 * @param  string $owner      The repository's owner
+	 * @param  string $repository The respository name
+	 * @return object             The response from the GitHub API
+	 */
+	public function get_repo_commits ( $owner, $repository ) {
+
+		$owner = trim ( $owner, '/' );
+		$repository = trim ( $repository, '/' );
+
+		$results = wp_remote_get( "https://api.github.com/repos/$owner/$repository/commits", $args = array (
+			'user-agent' => 'WordPress Github oEmbed plugin - https://github.com/leewillis77/wp-github-oembed' ) );
+
+		if ( is_wp_error( $results ) ||
+		    ! isset ( $results['response']['code'] ) ||
+		    $results['response']['code'] != '200' ) {
+			header ( 'HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found' );
+			die ( 'Octocat is lost, and afraid' );
+		}
+
+		return json_decode ( $results['body'] );
+
+	}
+
+
+
+	/**
+	 * Get a milestone summary from the GitHub API
+	 * @param  string $owner      The repository's owner
+	 * @param  string $repository The respository name
+	 * @param  string $milestone  The milestone ID
+	 * @return object             The response from the GitHub API
+	 */
+	public function get_repo_milestone_summary ( $owner, $repository, $milestone ) {
+
+		$owner = trim ( $owner, '/' );
+		$repo = trim ( $repo, '/' );
+
+		$results = wp_remote_get( "https://api.github.com/repos/$owner/$repository/milestones/$milestone", $args = array (
+			'user-agent' => 'WordPress Github oEmbed plugin - https://github.com/leewillis77/wp-github-oembed' ) );
+
+		if ( is_wp_error( $results ) ||
+		    ! isset ( $results['response']['code'] ) ||
+		    $results['response']['code'] != '200' ) {
+			header ( 'HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found' );
+			die ( 'Octocat is lost, and afraid' );
+		}
+
+		return json_decode ( $results['body'] );
+
+	}
+
+
+
+	/**
+	 * Get a user from the GitHub API
+	 * @param  string $user       The username
+	 * @return object             The response from the GitHub API
+	 */
+	public function get_user ( $user ) {
+
+		$user = trim ( $user, '/' );
+		$repository = trim ( $repository, '/' );
+
+		$results = wp_remote_get( "https://api.github.com/users/$user", $args = array (
+		              'user-agent' => 'WordPress Github oEmbed plugin - https://github.com/leewillis77/wp-github-oembed' ) );
+
+		if ( is_wp_error( $results ) ||
+		    ! isset ( $results['response']['code'] ) ||
+		    $results['response']['code'] != '200' ) {
+			header ( 'HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found' );
+			die ( 'Octocat is lost, and afraid' );
+		}
+
+		return json_decode ( $results['body'] );
+
+	}
+	
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/github-embed.php b/github-embed.php
index 66239c1..c4ac382 100644
--- a/github-embed.php
+++ b/github-embed.php
@@ -35,10 +35,17 @@ class github_embed {
 
 
 
+	private $api;
+
+
+
 	/**
 	 * Constructor. Registers hooks and filters
+	 * @param class $api An instance of the github_api classs
 	 */
-	public function __construct() {
+	public function __construct ( $api ) {
+
+		$this->api = $api;
 
 		add_action ( 'init', array ( $this, 'register_oembed_handler' ) );
 		add_action ( 'init', array ( $this, 'maybe_handle_oembed' ) );
@@ -277,4 +284,7 @@ class github_embed {
 
 }
 
-$github_embed = new github_embed();
\ No newline at end of file
+require_once ( 'github-api.php' );
+
+$github_api = new github_api();
+$github_embed = new github_embed ( $github_api );
\ No newline at end of file