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⚡ How it fires
How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.
Fires itselfClaude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.
You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
Slash command/add-github
👁️ Context preview
The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.
Add GitHub channel integration via Chat SDK. PR and issue comment threads as conversations.
📊 Stats
Stars30,324
Forks12,869
LanguageTypeScript
LicenseMIT
📦 Ships with nanoclaw
</> SKILL.md
add-github.SKILL.md
---name: add-github
description: Add GitHub channel integration via Chat SDK. PR and issue comment threads as conversations.
---# Add GitHub Channel
Adds GitHub support via the Chat SDK bridge. The agent participates in PR and
issue comment threads. NanoClaw doesn't ship channels in trunk — this skill
copies the GitHub adapter in from the `channels` branch.
The mechanical steps under **Apply** carry `nc:` directive fences: an agent
reads the prose and applies them, and a parser can apply them deterministically
from the same document. Every directive is idempotent, so the whole skill is
safe to re-run; anything a parser can't apply falls back to the prose beside it.
## Prerequisites
You need a **dedicated GitHub bot account** (not your personal account). The adapter uses this account to post replies and filters out its own messages to avoid loops. Create a free GitHub account for your bot (e.g. `my-org-bot`), then invite it as a collaborator with write access to the repos you want monitored.
## Apply
### 1. Copy the adapter
Fetch the `channels` branch and copy the GitHub adapter into `src/channels/`
(overwrite — the branch is canonical):
```nc:copy from-branch:channels
src/channels/github.ts
src/channels/github-registration.test.ts
1. Go to **Settings** > **Webhooks** > **Add webhook**
2. Payload URL: `https://your-domain/webhook/github` (the shared webhook server, default port 3000)
3. Content type: `application/json`
4. Secret: generate a random string (e.g. `openssl rand -hex 20`)
5. Events: select **Issue comments** and **Pull request review comments**
### 3. Configure environment
Capture the three values, then write them. `prompt` only *asks* and binds the
answer to a name; a separate directive consumes it — so the same prompts could
feed `ncl` or the OneCLI vault instead of `.env` by swapping only the consumer.
Here they go to `.env` (set-if-absent — a value you've already filled in is
never overwritten):
```nc:prompt github_token secret
Paste the Fine-grained Personal Access Token for the bot account — starts with `github_pat_`.
```
```nc:prompt webhook_secret secret
Paste the webhook secret you generated for the repo webhook(s).
```
```nc:prompt bot_username
Enter the bot account's GitHub username exactly (used for @-mention detection).
```
```nc:env-set
GITHUB_TOKEN={{github_token}}
GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET={{webhook_secret}}
GITHUB_BOT_USERNAME={{bot_username}}
```
`GITHUB_BOT_USERNAME` must match the bot account's GitHub username exactly. This is used for @-mention detection — the agent responds when someone writes `@your-bot-username` in a PR or issue comment.
## Wiring
Ask the user: **Is this a private or public repo?**
- **Private repo** — use `unknown_sender_policy: 'public'`. Only collaborators can comment anyway, so it's safe to let all comments through.
- **Public repo** — use `unknown_sender_policy: 'strict'`. Only registered members can trigger the agent, preventing strangers from consuming agent resources. Add trusted collaborators as members (see below).
Run `/manage-channels` to wire the GitHub channel to an agent group, or create the rows directly with `ncl`. **The host service must be running** — `ncl` connects to it over a Unix socket:
- **terminology**: GitHub has "repositories" containing "pull requests" and "issues." Each PR or issue comment thread is a separate conversation.
- **how-to-find-id**: The platform ID is `github:owner/repo` (e.g. `github:acme/backend`). Each PR/issue becomes its own thread automatically.
- **supports-threads**: yes (PR and issue comment threads are native conversations)
- **typical-use**: Webhook-driven — the agent receives PR and issue comment events and responds in comment threads when @-mentioned. After the first mention, the thread is subscribed and the agent responds to all follow-up comments.
- **default-isolation**: Use `per-thread` session mode. Each PR or issue gets its own isolated agent session. Typically wire to a dedicated agent group if the repo contains sensitive code.
## Troubleshooting
**API calls return 401/403 with the token.** The token must be a **fine-grained** PAT starting `github_pat_`, created while logged in as the *bot* account (Settings → Developer Settings → Personal Access Tokens → Fine-grained tokens), with the monitored repos selected under Repository access and both **Pull requests** and **Issues** set to Read & Write. A classic `ghp_` token, or one minted on your personal account, is the usual miss.
**Webhook deliveries show red in the repo settings.** Open **Settings → Webhooks → Recent Deliveries** on the repo: a 401 response means the secret in the webhook form doesn't match `GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET`; a timeout means `https://your-domain/webhook/github` isn't publicly reachable on the shared webhook port (3000). Fix, then use **Redeliver** to retest without writing a new comment.
**Comments never trigger the agent.** The @-mention must match `GITHUB_BOT_USERNAME` exactly, and the webhook must subscribe to **Issue comments** and **Pull request review comments** (not just pushes). Comments authored by the bot account itself are filtered by design — test from a different account than the bot.
**Adapter installed but the channel is dead.** Run `pnpm exec vitest run src/channels/github-registration.test.ts` — red means the barrel import or the `@chat-adapter/github` install drifted, so re-run the Apply steps. If green, restart the service (see Next Steps) so it loads the adapter and the new `.env` values.
