An Overview of Unito's GitHub Integration

Need to include GitHub in your workflow? Here's a list of the fields you can sync, customization options, and more.

What does this article cover?

Supported GitHub issue fields in Unito

Here are the fields you can sync with GitHub and which ones you can use in rules.

Quick definitions:

    • One-Way: Changes to the GitHub issue field will appear in the other synced field but not vice versa.
    • Two-Way: Changes to either synced field will appear in the other.
    • Rules: This GitHub issue field can be used as a trigger in your rules to filter work items from syncing with Unito.
GitHub Field One-Way? Two-Way? Rules?
Assignee
Comment  
Created at    
Description  
Issue ID    
Issue number    
Issue type  
Label
Link to issue    
Milestone  
Milestone due date  
Opened by    
Repository name    
Status  
Title  
Updated at    

Ready to start building a flow? Browse Unito's resources library for step-by-step Airtable guides, videos, templates, tutorials and more!

What counts as an item in sync?

For GitHub, Unito counts every synced issue as an item in sync.

Customization options for GitHub users

Our GitHub integration supports a number of customization settings.

Syncing pull requests

Issues aren't the only work item you can sync to other tools. Unito's GitHub integration supports pull requests, too! You can't create new pull requests from another tool, but you can keep them in sync with an equivalent work item in another tool. Say you sync a GitHub pull request with a Trello card. Make a change in the Trello card, and it will be automatically synced to GitHub.

Note: Unito will never sync any changes to the code associated with a pull request. That means you don't have to worry about a Unito flow messing up your code.

GitHub marketplace support

There are two ways to use Unito's GitHub integration. You can either go through the standard authorization process through our standalone website, or you can go through GitHub's marketplace. The latter has a quicker authorization process, and you can choose with repositories you want Unito access instead of needing to provide blanket access.

Open-source repositories

You can sync open-source repositories with your other work management tool of choice. If you want to do so, there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Assignees will only sync if they also exist in the other tool you've connected.

  • Unito considers anyone commenting or assigned to an issue in GitHub as an active user. Have a lot of open-source collaborators? Get in touch with us by clicking on the chat bubble!

GitHub On-Premise Enterprise support

If you're using GitHub's On-Premise Enterprise solution, you can still use Unito's integration. Note that some additional setup steps may be required.

Prefix task title with issue number

When syncing GitHub to other work management tools, you can have the GitHub issue added as a prefix to the task's title in your other tools.

Limitations and other considerations for Unito's GitHub integration

We’re constantly looking to better support GitHub’s growing list of features, fields, and use-cases. Here are a few limitations you should be aware of:

  • Subtasks and checklists can't be synced by default since GitHub only supports parent tasks. That said, there is a workaround to achieve a similar result. Here's how it's done in Asana.

  • Comments and description don't currently sync to text-based fields in tools such as Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel.
  • We don't support GitHub projects. Issues connected to both a repo and a project will continue to sync, but you can't select a GitHub project as a block of work.

  • GitHub labels can't be mapped with all other fields. It'll only work with similar fields, like tags in Asana or labels in Trello.

  • Unito needs certain read & write permissions in order to work. You can get a full breakdown of these permissions here.

  • In order for on-premise GitHub accounts to connect to Unito, it needs to be accessible via the internet. If that isn't the case, please read our guide to set this up, or contact us if you’re not sure how to proceed!

Which permissions are necessary to connect GitHub and Unito?

You need to both be a member of the organization that owns the repository you want to sync and a collaborator (which is different from a contributor). If your organization has enabled third-party application restrictions, you'll need to follow this step-by-step guide for approving third-party apps in GitHub.

In addition, we need the repository permission that includes “repository webhooks for public and private repositories” to create webhooks. We do not require the admin:repo_hook permission. You can get more information about these permissions here.

Most importantly, Unito will never ask for, or require access to, any code you have stored on GitHub.

Note: We can't sync a repository if it was forked from another repository.

OAuth Scopes

Repository Permissions

Read Metadata Search repositories, list collaborators, and access repository metadata.
Read & Write Pull Requests Pull requests and related comments, assignees, labels, milestones, and merges.
  Webhooks Manage the post-receive hooks for a repository.
  Projects Manage repository projects, columns and cards.

Organization Permissions

Read Members Organization members and teams.
Read & Write Webhooks Manage the post-receive hooks for an organization.
  Projects Manage organization projects, columns and cards.

User Permissions

Read Email Address Manage a user's email addresses.

Got feedback? Submit a Unito feature request to let us know what you'd like to see in the next update to our GitHub integration.