GitHub Integration

Track commits, pull requests, issues, and repository activity

Overview

The GitHub integration provides comprehensive development metrics including commits, pull requests, issues, repository activity, and contributor insights.

What you’ll track:

• Commits per day/week/month
• Pull requests (open, merged, closed)
• Issues (open, closed, response time)
• Repository stars and forks
• Contributor activity
• Code review metrics

Prerequisites

Before connecting GitHub, ensure you have:

• A GitHub account with repository access
• Admin or owner permissions for repositories you want to track
• A Dashtray account (any tier)

Connection Steps

1. Navigate to Integrations

   1. Log in to your Dashtray account
   2. Click Integrations in the sidebar
   3. Find GitHub in the Engineering category
   4. Click Connect
2. Authorize GitHub

   You’ll be redirected to GitHub’s OAuth authorization page.

   1. Review the requested permissions (read-only repository access)
   2. Select which repositories to grant access to
   3. Click Authorize

   Dashtray only requests read-only access to repository data. We never have permission to modify your code or settings.

3. Select Repositories

   After authorization:

   1. Choose which repositories to track
   2. Select all or specific repositories
   3. Click Save

   You can modify this selection later in integration settings.

4. Initial Data Sync

   Dashtray will fetch:

   • Last 30 days of commits
   • Open pull requests
   • Open and recently closed issues
   • Repository metadata

   This usually takes 1-2 minutes depending on repository size.

Available Metrics

Commit Metrics

Metric	Description	Unit
github_commits	Total commits	count
github_commits_today	Commits in last 24 hours	count
github_commits_week	Commits in last 7 days	count

Pull Request Metrics

Metric	Description	Unit
github_prs_open	Open pull requests	count
github_prs_merged	Merged pull requests	count
github_prs_closed	Closed pull requests	count
github_pr_merge_time	Average time to merge	hours

Issue Metrics

Metric	Description	Unit
github_issues_open	Open issues	count
github_issues_closed	Closed issues	count
github_issue_response_time	Average first response time	hours

Repository Metrics

Metric	Description	Unit
github_stars	Repository stars	count
github_forks	Repository forks	count
github_contributors	Active contributors	count

Webhook Setup (Recommended)

For real-time updates, configure GitHub webhooks:

1. Get Webhook URL

   1. Go to Integrations → GitHub → Settings
   2. Copy your unique webhook URL

   https://api.dashtray.com/webhooks/github/{your-project-id}
   
2. Add Webhook in GitHub

   1. Go to your repository Settings → Webhooks
   2. Click Add webhook
   3. Paste your Dashtray webhook URL
   4. Set Content type to application/json
   5. Select individual events:
      • Push events
      • Pull request events
      • Issue events
      • Release events
   6. Click Add webhook
3. Verify Webhook

   GitHub will send a test ping event.

   Check Recent Deliveries in GitHub to verify success (200 response).

Troubleshooting

Connection Failed

Problem: OAuth authorization fails.

Solutions:

• Ensure you have admin access to repositories
• Check that you’re logged into the correct GitHub account
• Try disconnecting and reconnecting
• Verify GitHub is not experiencing outages

No Commits Showing

Problem: Commit metrics are zero or outdated.

Solutions:

• Verify you selected the correct repositories
• Check that repositories have recent commits
• Click Refresh to trigger manual sync
• Ensure repository is not private (if using GitHub Free)

Webhook Not Working

Problem: Real-time updates aren’t appearing.

Solutions:

• Verify webhook URL is correct
• Check webhook secret matches (if configured)
• Review GitHub webhook delivery logs
• Ensure webhook is active (not disabled)
• Check that selected events include push/PR/issue events

Rate Limiting

Problem: Sync fails with rate limit error.

Explanation:

• GitHub API has rate limits (5,000 requests/hour for authenticated apps)
• Large repositories may hit limits during initial sync

Solutions:

• Wait for rate limit to reset (shown in error message)
• Reduce number of tracked repositories
• Use webhooks to minimize API calls

Data Refresh

Manual Refresh

Click Refresh on your dashboard to fetch the latest data from GitHub.

Manual refresh fetches the last 7 days of activity to capture recent changes.

Webhook Updates

With webhooks configured, updates appear in real-time:

• New commits: Instant
• Pull request changes: Instant
• Issue updates: Instant

Best Practices

1. Use Webhooks

Configure webhooks for real-time updates:

• Reduces API calls and rate limit issues
• Provides instant notification of changes
• More accurate real-time metrics

2. Track Key Repositories

Focus on your most important repositories:

• Main product repositories
• Active development branches
• Customer-facing projects

3. Monitor PR Merge Time

Track average merge time to:

• Identify bottlenecks in code review
• Improve development velocity
• Optimize team workflows

4. Set Up Alerts

Create alerts for:

• Spike in open issues
• Long PR merge times
• Decreased commit activity
• Critical issue creation

Security & Privacy

Data Access

Dashtray requests read-only access to:

• Repository metadata
• Commit history
• Pull request data
• Issue data
• Contributor information

We never access:

• Source code content
• Secrets or environment variables
• Private repository data (unless explicitly granted)
• Personal access tokens

Credential Storage

• OAuth tokens are encrypted with AES-256-GCM
• Tokens are stored securely in our database
• You can revoke access anytime from GitHub settings

Data Retention

Data retention depends on your tier:

• Starter: 3 days
• Basic: 30 days
• Pro/Scale: Unlimited

Disconnecting

To disconnect GitHub:

1. Go to Integrations → GitHub
2. Click Disconnect
3. Confirm disconnection

Disconnecting will stop data syncing. Historical data will be retained according to your tier’s retention policy.

You can also revoke access from GitHub:

1. Go to GitHub Settings
2. Find Dashtray under Authorized OAuth Apps
3. Click Revoke

Next Steps

Create Engineering Dashboard

Build a development-focused dashboard

Set Up Alerts

Get notified of development changes

Connect Vercel

Track deployments alongside commits

Connect Sentry

Monitor errors with development activity

Support

Need help with GitHub integration?

• Email: [e-mail]
• GitHub Docs: docs.github.com
• Status: status.dashtray.com