GitHub Integration

August 22, 2025 · View on GitHub

How to configure Sugar to discover work from GitHub issues and pull requests.

🔧 Authentication Methods

Sugar supports three authentication methods for GitHub integration:

Uses your existing gh CLI authentication - easiest if you already use GitHub CLI.

Prerequisites:

# Install GitHub CLI
# macOS: brew install gh
# Windows: winget install GitHub.cli
# Linux: See https://github.com/cli/cli#installation

# Authenticate with GitHub
gh auth login

# Verify authentication
gh auth status

Configuration:

# .sugar/config.yaml
sugar:
  discovery:
    github:
      enabled: true
      repo: "username/repository"  # Your repository
      auth_method: "gh_cli"        # Use GitHub CLI
      
      gh_cli:
        command: "gh"              # Path to gh command
        use_default_auth: true     # Use existing gh auth
        
      issue_labels: ["bug", "enhancement", "sugar-task"]
      check_interval_minutes: 30

Benefits:

  • ✅ Uses existing gh authentication
  • ✅ No need to create personal access tokens
  • ✅ Supports all GitHub CLI features
  • ✅ Easy setup if you already use gh

Method 2: Personal Access Token

Uses a GitHub Personal Access Token for authentication.

Setup Token:

  1. Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens
  2. Generate new token (classic) with scopes:
    • repo (for private repos) or public_repo (for public repos)
    • read:org (if accessing organization repos)
  3. Copy the token

Configuration:

# .sugar/config.yaml  
sugar:
  discovery:
    github:
      enabled: true
      repo: "username/repository"
      auth_method: "token"
      token: "ghp_your_token_here"  # Or use environment variable
      
      issue_labels: ["bug", "enhancement"]
      check_interval_minutes: 30

Environment Variable (Recommended):

# Set environment variable
export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_your_token_here"

# In config, leave token empty - Sugar will use environment variable
token: ""  # Will use $GITHUB_TOKEN

Benefits:

  • ✅ Works without GitHub CLI
  • ✅ Fine-grained access control
  • ✅ Works in CI/CD environments
  • ✅ Can be stored in environment variables

Method 3: Auto-Detection (Best of Both)

Tries GitHub CLI first, falls back to token if CLI isn't available.

Configuration:

# .sugar/config.yaml
sugar:
  discovery:
    github:
      enabled: true
      repo: "username/repository"
      auth_method: "auto"  # Try gh CLI first, fallback to token
      
      # Token fallback (optional)
      token: ""  # Or set GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
      
      gh_cli:
        command: "gh"
        use_default_auth: true
        
      issue_labels: ["bug", "enhancement", "sugar-task"]

Benefits:

  • ✅ Most flexible approach
  • ✅ Works with or without GitHub CLI
  • ✅ Automatic fallback handling
  • ✅ Single configuration for different environments

📋 Configuration Options

Complete GitHub Configuration

# .sugar/config.yaml
sugar:
  discovery:
    github:
      enabled: true
      repo: "username/repository"
      auth_method: "auto"  # "token", "gh_cli", or "auto"
      
      # Token authentication (if needed)
      token: ""  # Personal access token or ${GITHUB_TOKEN}
      
      # GitHub CLI authentication
      gh_cli:
        command: "gh"               # Path to gh command
        use_default_auth: true      # Use existing gh authentication
        timeout_seconds: 30         # Command timeout
        
      # Discovery settings
      issue_labels: [               # Labels to monitor
        "bug", 
        "enhancement", 
        "good-first-issue",
        "sugar-task"
      ]
      
      pull_request_labels: [        # PR labels to monitor
        "needs-review",
        "sugar-automation"
      ]
      
      check_interval_minutes: 30    # How often to check GitHub
      max_issues_per_check: 10      # Limit issues processed per cycle
      
      # Issue filtering
      issue_states: ["open"]        # "open", "closed", "all"
      exclude_pull_requests: false  # Whether to ignore PRs
      
      # Assignment handling
      only_unassigned: false        # Only process unassigned issues
      auto_assign: false            # Auto-assign to Sugar when processing

Repository Formats

# Public repository
repo: "username/repository"

# Organization repository  
repo: "organization/repository"

# GitHub Enterprise (if supported)
repo: "enterprise.github.com/org/repo"

🚀 Quick Setup Examples

Example 1: Simple Setup with GitHub CLI

# 1. Authenticate with GitHub CLI
gh auth login

# 2. Enable in Sugar config
cat >> .sugar/config.yaml << 'EOF'
sugar:
  discovery:
    github:
      enabled: true
      repo: "myusername/myproject"
      auth_method: "gh_cli"
      issue_labels: ["bug", "enhancement"]
EOF

# 3. Test
sugar run --dry-run --once

Example 2: Token-Based Setup

# 1. Set environment variable
export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_your_token_here"

# 2. Configure Sugar
cat >> .sugar/config.yaml << 'EOF'
sugar:
  discovery:
    github:
      enabled: true
      repo: "myusername/myproject"
      auth_method: "token"
      token: ""  # Uses $GITHUB_TOKEN
      issue_labels: ["bug", "feature-request", "sugar"]
EOF

# 3. Test
sugar run --validate
sugar run --dry-run --once

Example 3: Team/Organization Setup

# .sugar/config.yaml for team projects
sugar:
  discovery:
    github:
      enabled: true
      repo: "myorg/backend-services"
      auth_method: "auto"
      
      issue_labels: [
        "bug",
        "tech-debt", 
        "maintenance",
        "sugar-automation"
      ]
      
      # Filter for better team coordination
      only_unassigned: true         # Don't interfere with assigned work
      max_issues_per_check: 5       # Conservative approach
      check_interval_minutes: 60    # Less frequent checks

🔍 What Sugar Discovers

From GitHub Issues

Sugar automatically creates tasks from:

  • Open issues with specified labels
  • Issue descriptions become task descriptions
  • Issue labels map to task types:
    • bug → bug_fix tasks
    • enhancement, feature → feature tasks
    • documentation → documentation tasks
    • test, testing → test tasks

From Pull Requests

  • PRs needing review (configurable labels)
  • Failed CI checks that need attention
  • Merge conflicts requiring resolution

Task Mapping

GitHub Issue → Sugar Task
=======================
Title: "Fix login bug"         → Title: "Fix login bug"
Label: "bug"                   → Type: "bug_fix"
Label: "high-priority"         → Priority: 4
Body: "Users can't login..."   → Description: "Users can't login..."

🛠️ Testing GitHub Integration

Test Authentication

# Test GitHub CLI
gh auth status
gh repo view username/repository

# Test token
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
     https://api.github.com/repos/username/repository/issues

# Test Sugar configuration
sugar run --validate

Create Test Issues

# Create test issue with GitHub CLI
gh issue create \
  --title "Test Sugar Integration" \
  --body "Testing Sugar's GitHub discovery" \
  --label "bug,sugar-task"

# Or via web interface with appropriate labels

Monitor Discovery

# Run Sugar discovery
sugar run --dry-run --once

# Check logs
tail -f .sugar/sugar.log | grep -i github

# Check discovered tasks
sugar list --type bug_fix

🚨 Troubleshooting

"GitHub CLI not found"

# Check gh installation
which gh
gh --version

# Install GitHub CLI
# macOS: brew install gh
# Windows: winget install GitHub.cli
# Linux: See https://github.com/cli/cli#installation

# Update config with full path if needed
gh_cli:
  command: "/usr/local/bin/gh"

"Authentication failed"

# Re-authenticate GitHub CLI
gh auth logout
gh auth login

# Or check token
echo $GITHUB_TOKEN
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
     https://api.github.com/user

"Repository not found"

# Verify repository access
gh repo view username/repository

# Check repository format in config
repo: "username/repository"  # Not: github.com/username/repository

"No issues discovered"

# Check issue labels
gh issue list --label "bug,enhancement"

# Verify label configuration matches actual labels
issue_labels: ["bug", "enhancement"]  # Must match exactly

# Check issue states
gh issue list --state open

Rate Limiting

# Check GitHub API rate limits
gh api rate_limit

# Reduce check frequency in config
check_interval_minutes: 60  # Instead of 30
max_issues_per_check: 5     # Instead of 10

💡 Best Practices

Security

  • Use environment variables for tokens
  • Use GitHub CLI when possible (inherits security)
  • Limit token scopes to minimum required
  • Rotate tokens regularly

Performance

  • Use specific labels to filter relevant issues
  • Set appropriate intervals to avoid rate limiting
  • Limit issues per check for large repositories
  • Monitor API usage with gh api rate_limit

Team Coordination

  • Use dedicated labels for Sugar automation
  • Coordinate with team on which issues Sugar should handle
  • Use only_unassigned to avoid conflicts
  • Set up notifications for Sugar's GitHub activity

Example Team Labels

issue_labels: [
  "sugar-automation",  # Dedicated Sugar label
  "maintenance",       # Maintenance tasks Sugar can handle
  "tech-debt",        # Technical debt cleanup
  "documentation"     # Documentation updates
]

🔄 Advanced Usage

Multi-Repository Setup

# Monitor multiple repositories (future feature)
github:
  repositories: [
    {
      repo: "myorg/frontend",
      labels: ["bug", "ui-issue"]
    },
    {
      repo: "myorg/backend", 
      labels: ["bug", "api-issue"]
    }
  ]

Custom Label Mapping

# Map GitHub labels to Sugar task types
github:
  label_mapping:
    "bug": "bug_fix"
    "feature": "feature"
    "docs": "documentation"
    "test": "test"
    "refactor": "refactor"
    "urgent": { "type": "bug_fix", "priority": 5 }

GitHub integration makes Sugar truly autonomous by connecting your development workflow with issue tracking and project management. Choose the authentication method that best fits your setup and team workflow.