Connect GitHub

Settings → GitHub connects your workspace to a GitHub App installation, which is what lets agents read repositories, push branches, and open pull requests. It needs the manage_integrations permission.

What needs it, and what does not

Worth reading before you install anything, because half the delivery pipeline works without GitHub.

Stage	Needs the App
Cloning a repository a runner can already reach	No
Working on a task branch in a runner workspace	No
Merging a task branch into a meeting’s working copy	No
Browsing a repository’s files in the app	Yes
Opening a pull request, reviewing it, and shipping	Yes

A self-hosted runner with its own git access can do real work with no App installed. The App is what makes the repository visible inside CommandChain, and what makes the release stage possible at all. See coding delivery for where each stage sits.

Install it

1. Open Settings → GitHub. An unconnected workspace shows No GitHub App Installed.
2. Click Install GitHub App. You are sent to GitHub to choose where it goes.
3. Choose the account or organization that owns the repositories.
4. Choose All repositories or Only select repositories. Selecting is the better default: an agent can only reach what you granted.
5. Approve. GitHub sends you back, and the page fills in.

Once installed the page shows the account, the installation id, whether access is all or selected repositories, the permissions granted, and the install date. Remove Installation disconnects it, with a confirmation step.

Granting a repository is a GitHub-side action

Adding or removing repositories later is done on GitHub, in the installation’s own settings. CommandChain reads the grant; it cannot widen it.

How repositories stay in sync

The App’s installation token is short lived and minted per call, so access follows the grant rather than a stored key: revoking a repository on GitHub takes effect on the next call rather than at some later refresh.

Webhooks keep the installation record current. Uninstalling on GitHub marks the installation removed here, which is why the page can show a state you did not set from this page.

Next steps

• Coding delivery: the four stages, and which need this.
• Workspaces and git: what a runner does with a repository once it has one.