> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.harness.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developer.harness.io/ai-sre/3.0/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-runbook-management/integrations/source-control/github.md).

# GitHub Integration

Integrate GitHub with AI SRE runbooks to automate pull request management during incident response.

### Use cases <a href="#use-cases" id="use-cases"></a>

Use GitHub runbook actions to:

* Create pull requests for hotfixes
* List open pull requests for incident correlation
* Track incident remediation through pull requests
* Automate PR creation for code changes

***

### Prerequisites <a href="#prerequisites" id="prerequisites"></a>

* GitHub account with repository access
* GitHub personal access token or GitHub App
* Repository permissions: repo, read:org (minimum)

***

### Configure the GitHub integration <a href="#configure-the-github-integration" id="configure-the-github-integration"></a>

Set up the connector with these steps:

1. Go to **Project Settings**, then **Third-Party Integrations for AI SRE**.
2. Select the connector you want to use or create a new one.
3. Provide your GitHub credentials:
   * **Personal Access Token:** Generate from GitHub settings
   * **Permissions:** repo, read:org (minimum)
4. Test the connection.
5. Save the integration.

***

### Available actions <a href="#available-actions" id="available-actions"></a>

#### Create pull request <a href="#create-pull-request" id="create-pull-request"></a>

Create a pull request in a GitHub repository.

**Required fields:**

* Owner: Repository owner (user or organization)
* Repository: Repository name
* Source Branch: Branch with changes
* Target Branch: Branch to merge into
* Title: Pull request title
* Body: Pull request description (optional)

#### List pull requests <a href="#list-pull-requests" id="list-pull-requests"></a>

List pull requests from a GitHub repository.

**Required fields:**

* Owner: Repository owner (user or organization)
* Repository: Repository name
* State: Filter by state (open, closed, or all)

***

### Use GitHub actions in runbooks <a href="#use-github-actions-in-runbooks" id="use-github-actions-in-runbooks"></a>

GitHub actions are configured through the runbook action form in the UI:

1. **In your runbook**, click **New Step**, then **Action**.
2. In the **Select Action** dialog, go to the **Tickets & Code** category.
3. Select **GitHub** from the available actions.
4. Choose the action type (**Create GitHub Pull Request** or **List GitHub Pull Requests**).
5. Fill in the form fields using the **Data Picker** to insert dynamic values like `incident.severity`, `incident.title`, etc.

***

### Available Mustache variables <a href="#available-mustache-variables" id="available-mustache-variables"></a>

Use these variables to map AI SRE incident data to GitHub fields:

| Variable                   | Description                 | Example Value                           |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `{{Activity.title}}`       | Incident title              | `API Gateway Outage`                    |
| `{{Activity.summary}}`     | Incident summary            | `Payment API returning 500 errors`      |
| `{{Activity.severity}}`    | Incident severity           | `0`, `1`, `2`, `3`, `4`                 |
| `{{Activity.status}}`      | Incident status             | `Detected`, `Investigating`, `Resolved` |
| `{{Activity.service}}`     | Affected service name       | `payment-service`                       |
| `{{Activity.environment}}` | Environment                 | `production`, `staging`                 |
| `{{Activity.owner}}`       | Incident owner email        | `jane.doe@company.com`                  |
| `{{Activity.created_at}}`  | Incident creation timestamp | `2026-05-06T20:30:00Z`                  |
| `{{Activity.url}}`         | Incident URL in AI SRE      | `https://app.harness.io/...`            |
| `{{Activity.id}}`          | Unique incident identifier  | `abc123...`                             |
| `{{Activity.short_id}}`    | Human-readable ID           | `INC-123`                               |

***

### Example runbook actions <a href="#example-runbook-actions" id="example-runbook-actions"></a>

#### Create a pull request for a fix <a href="#create-a-pull-request-for-a-fix" id="create-a-pull-request-for-a-fix"></a>

**Use case:** Create a pull request for incident remediation with full context.

**Runbook configuration:**

1. In the runbook editor, add a **Create GitHub Pull Request** action.
2. Configure the form fields:
   * **Owner:** `myorg`
   * **Repository:** `payment-service`
   * **Source Branch:** `hotfix/incident-{{Activity.short_id}}`
   * **Target Branch:** `main`
   * **Title:** `Fix for incident {{Activity.short_id}}: {{Activity.title}}`
   * **Body:**

     ```markdown
     ## Incident Fix

     **Incident**: [{{Activity.short_id}}]({{Activity.url}})
     **Severity**: SEV{{Activity.severity}}
     **Service**: {{Activity.service}}
     **Environment**: {{Activity.environment}}

     ### Description
     {{Activity.title}}

     ### Related
     - Incident URL: {{Activity.url}}
     ```

**Result:** Pull request created with title `Fix for incident INC-123: API Gateway Outage` targeting `main` from `hotfix/incident-INC-123`.

#### List open pull requests <a href="#list-open-pull-requests" id="list-open-pull-requests"></a>

**Use case:** List all open pull requests to check for existing fixes before creating a new one.

**Runbook configuration:**

1. In the runbook editor, add a **List GitHub Pull Requests** action.
2. Configure the form fields:
   * **Owner:** `myorg`
   * **Repository:** `payment-service`
   * **State:** `open`

**Result:** Returns a list of all open pull requests in the repository with details including title, branch, and URL.

#### Create a hotfix PR with context <a href="#create-a-hotfix-pr-with-context" id="create-a-hotfix-pr-with-context"></a>

**Use case:** Create a pull request with detailed incident context and action items.

**Runbook configuration:**

1. In the runbook editor, add a **Create GitHub Pull Request** action.
2. Configure the form fields:
   * **Owner:** `myorg`
   * **Repository:** `payment-service`
   * **Source Branch:** `hotfix/{{Activity.short_id}}-{{Activity.service}}`
   * **Target Branch:** `main`
   * **Title:** `[SEV{{Activity.severity}}] {{Activity.title}}`
   * **Body:**

     ```markdown
     ## Hotfix for Incident {{Activity.short_id}}

     **Status**: {{Activity.status}}
     **Service**: {{Activity.service}}
     **Environment**: {{Activity.environment}}
     **Detected**: {{Activity.created_at}}

     ### Incident Summary
     {{Activity.summary}}

     ### Action Items
     - [ ] Code changes implemented
     - [ ] Tests added
     - [ ] Reviewed and approved
     - [ ] Ready to deploy

     ### Links
     - [Incident Details]({{Activity.url}})

     cc: {{Activity.owner}}
     ```

**Result:** Pull request created with full incident context and checklist for tracking remediation progress.

***

### PR title conventions <a href="#pr-title-conventions" id="pr-title-conventions"></a>

Use consistent PR title formats for incident-related pull requests:

**By severity:**

* SEV0/SEV1: `[SEV0] {{Activity.title}}`
* SEV2+: `Fix: {{Activity.title}}`

**By type:**

* Hotfix: `Hotfix/{{Activity.short_id}}: {{Activity.title}}`
* Investigation: `Investigation/{{Activity.short_id}}: {{Activity.title}}`
* Post-incident: `Post-incident/{{Activity.short_id}}: {{Activity.title}}`

***

### Branch naming conventions <a href="#branch-naming-conventions" id="branch-naming-conventions"></a>

Use consistent branch naming for incident-related work:

```yaml
# Pattern examples: <a href="#pattern-examples" id="pattern-examples"></a>
hotfix/incident-{{Activity.short_id}}
fix/{{Activity.service}}-{{Activity.short_id}}
incident/{{Activity.short_id}}-{{Activity.severity}}
```

***

### Security best practices <a href="#security-best-practices" id="security-best-practices"></a>

Follow these practices to secure the GitHub integration:

* Use fine-grained personal access tokens
* Limit repository access to only what is needed
* Rotate tokens regularly
* Use GitHub Apps for organization-wide access
* Enable two-factor authentication
* Audit integration usage regularly

***

### Next steps <a href="#next-steps" id="next-steps"></a>

* [Configure Runbook Actions](/ai-sre/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-runbook-management/create-runbook.md): Add GitHub actions to runbooks.
* [Runbook Best Practices](/ai-sre/ai-sre-for-administrators/set-up-runbook-management/workflows/best-practices.md): Review automation patterns.