PaperClipAI/doc/connections/GITHUB.md

GitHub managed connection

GitHub is a Paperclip Cloud-managed GitHub App connection with an advanced PAT compatibility method. Cloud owns the fixed public OAuth callback and signed webhook inbox; provider tokens are sealed to the enrolled instance and stored only in its existing encrypted secret system.

Self-hosted setup

The Access step uses Continue to open the local setup screen. Continue to GitHub on that screen starts the provider handoff. The first button does not imply that the browser is leaving Paperclip yet.

A self-hosted instance needs one Paperclip Cloud approval before its first managed connection. After approval, setup returns to step 2 and continues to GitHub without another instance approval or a service restart.

If an unapproved enrollment link expires, return to setup and select Continue. Paperclip asks the server for a valid link. The server reuses a live pending enrollment or replaces an expired one; this does not revoke or repeat an existing instance approval.

Identity resolution

Every MCP call, gh invocation, native Git operation, checkout, health check, and webhook binding uses the same order:

1. An active dedicated GitHub grant for the current agent.
2. The active personal GitHub grant owned by the run's responsibleUserId.
3. For automated work without a responsible user, a personal grant only when an existing standing delegation names the agent.
4. Legacy GH_TOKEN/GITHUB_TOKEN only when no managed GitHub connection is configured for the company.

An unavailable or ambiguous managed identity fails visibly. It never falls through to another person, an organization credential, or a legacy token. Agent grants are company-scoped, have exactly one subjectAgentId, cannot be organization defaults, and are installed only for that agent.

The connection installation is the credential owner's consent boundary. A personal setup may target every agent or a selected set, and runtime resolution considers only an enabled, active connection installed for the current agent. Within that boundary, Paperclip treats the run's server-resolved responsibleUserId as its credential principal, including for automated work; agents cannot choose or spoof this field. The owner must still be an active non-viewer company member at each use. A standing delegation is needed only when a run genuinely has no responsible user.

Credential lifecycle

The production, staging, and development GitHub Apps deliberately disable user-to-server token expiration. The resulting long-lived access token is checked with GitHub's /user endpoint every 30 days, together with installation and repository summary refresh. Routine continuity requires no browser visit.

If GitHub returns an expiring access token and rotating refresh token instead, Paperclip stores both encrypted and:

• refreshes at least one hour before access expiry;
• forces a rotation at least every 30 days while the instance is active;
• serializes refresh through the existing database refresh lease and compare- and-swap update;
• atomically advances both secret values before clearing the lease;
• retries one forced refresh after a provider 401.

Only an unrecoverable provider invalidation marks a grant needs_reauthorization. Installation removal or suspension is reported as an installation-health failure, not as token expiry.

Repository access

OAuth completion verifies /user, every page of /user/installations, and every page of each installation's accessible repositories. Setup remains incomplete until at least one installation and repository are available. Paperclip stores the authenticated username and a grant-scoped display snapshot containing only repository IDs, full names, installation IDs, and private-repository flags. GitHub stays authoritative: this snapshot never authorizes repository access.

The permissions page shows repositories across authorized accounts by default. Use the account filter and search to narrow the list. The list scrolls after about ten rows and marks known private repositories with a lock. Configure on GitHub opens the app account chooser so users can add or update organization access. Refresh access after changing the selection. Older snapshots omit the private flag until refreshed. If a legacy grant lacks its app chooser URL, Load GitHub configuration refreshes access and recovers the app slug from GitHub installation metadata. The page does not substitute a single-installation settings URL for the account chooser.

The permissions page shows the authenticated GitHub account and the complete accessible repository list. Refresh access reloads it from GitHub. Older grants and grants invalidated by newer installation lifecycle events prompt for a refresh instead of presenting a stale list. The page links to GitHub's installation management page. Selected repositories are recommended; all- repository access retains its warning.

Fresh local test-drives use production Paperclip Cloud. Instance enrollment and provider enablement are separate: enrollment alone does not enable GitHub OAuth. Production must advertise the github.code profile (see Cloud's docs/github-connector-deploy-bootstrap.md). If it is unavailable, setup preserves the sign-in intent and offers a retry instead of silently switching to a personal access token. A successful retry preserves the chosen audience.

GitHub Actions tools

Managed and PAT connections request X-MCP-Toolsets: default,actions for MCP discovery and invocation. GitHub's default catalog excludes Actions; granting Actions permissions alone does not expose workflow tools. Existing connections can use Refresh actions after upgrading to discover the added tools. The normal catalog, access, approval, and quarantine rules still apply.

To dispatch an existing workflow, use actions_run_trigger with method: "run_workflow", the repository owner and name, workflow_id, ref, and any workflow inputs. The workflow must declare workflow_dispatch. The GitHub App installation or fine-grained PAT needs Actions: Read and write for the repository. App owners set that permission on the GitHub App registration; installation owners must approve an increase before it takes effect. Paperclip's action controls do not grant GitHub permissions.

The tool also supports rerunning and cancelling runs and deleting run logs. It retains GitHub's destructive classification. Read tools include actions_list, actions_get, and get_job_logs.

Provider references: MCP toolset configuration and workflow dispatch permissions.

Webhooks

Paperclip Cloud verifies X-Hub-Signature-256 against the exact bounded request body before parsing, deduplicates by X-GitHub-Delivery, and persists a minimal normalized event before returning 202. Raw webhook payloads are discarded. When registering an active binding, Paperclip sends the current user token only inside the signed, payload-bound broker request so Cloud can verify access to that exact installation; Cloud neither logs nor persists that proof token. Deliveries fan out independently to every enrolled instance bound to the GitHub installation and are sealed to each instance's public key.

The instance polls with backoff, stores a company-scoped idempotency receipt, and acknowledges only successful applications. A merged pull request updates its matching external-object snapshot and immediately runs the existing merge- confirmation resolver. It wakes the assignee only when that interaction's continuation policy requests it; unrelated Paperclip issues are not closed. The periodic GitHub merge sweep remains the reconciliation fallback.

Installation lifecycle events refresh or invalidate installation summaries and remove obsolete Cloud bindings. Activity records contain event identifiers and outcomes but no webhook content. GitHub webhook content is never first-party telemetry.

Run projection

The resolved token is leased at run start as an audited class-3 secret and is projected only into the child process:

• GH_TOKEN, GITHUB_TOKEN, and an internal credential-helper environment key;
• GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0;
• process-scoped GIT_CONFIG_COUNT/KEY_n/VALUE_n entries that clear ambient helpers, install a github.com-only helper, and rewrite GitHub SSH remotes to HTTPS;
• author and committer identity using <numeric-id>+<login>@users.noreply.github.com.

Tokens never appear in arguments, URLs, files, logs, events, or model context, and the projection never replaces HOME.

Cloud deployment and exact GitHub App registration settings live in paperclip-cloud/docs/github-connector-deploy-bootstrap.md.