GitHub

GitHub is how your factory reads and writes code. Connecting it is what turns a factory that can talk about your product into one that can ship it.

What it enables: cloning your repositories, reading the codebase to write and maintain the spec, opening pull requests, reviewing them, reacting to CI, and merging once the gates pass.

Connect

Settings → Connectors → GitHub, or step 4 of the onboarding wizard.

You install the Sapient GitHub App on your organization or account and choose which repositories it can see. That’s the whole flow — you’re never asked to paste a token, and Sapient never holds a personal access token of yours. Access is per-repository and you change it in GitHub’s own UI at any time.

If the install redirects back mid-onboarding, the wizard picks up exactly where it left off.

Pick repositories

After installing, choose a repository per surface you declared — frontend, backend, iOS, Android — or point every surface at one repo if you’re in a monorepo. You can also have the factory create a repository if you’re starting fresh.

Change the selection later under Settings → Connectors → GitHub, or add repositories in Engineering.

What the factory does with it

• Reads your code to write the initial spec (the “import from my codebase” path in onboarding) and to keep it honest as the code changes.
• Branches and commits as it implements tickets.
• Opens pull requests with a description tied to the ticket and the spec section it implements.
• Reviews — a code-review seat reviews every PR before it can merge, and the review must pass before the merge is allowed. That gate is enforced on the merge itself, not just displayed.
• Merges once the review passes and you’ve approved anything that needs approval.

Permissions

The App asks for read/write on the repositories you select, plus the webhook events it needs to notice pushes, PR activity, and comments. It cannot see repositories you didn’t select.

Troubleshooting

“No repositories available.” The App is installed but no repositories were selected. Open the installation in GitHub (Settings → Applications → Sapient → Configure) and grant access.

The factory can’t clone. Check the installation is still active — an org owner may have removed it — and that the specific repository is in the selected list.

PRs open but never merge. That’s usually working as intended: the code-review gate is red, or a deploy approval is waiting on you. Check Approvals and the PR’s checks.

I removed the App. The factory keeps everything it already knows but can’t reach the code. Reinstall and re-select the repositories; nothing is lost.

Removing

Uninstall from GitHub (Settings → Applications), or remove the connection under Settings → Connectors. Your factory, spec, tickets, and history stay; only code access goes away.