GitHub Connector Settings Reference

Updated 2 weeks ago by Michael Cretzman

This topic provides settings and permissions for the GitHub Connector.

You can also use a GitHub App for authentication in a Harness GitHub Connector. See Use a GitHub App in a GitHub Connector.

Name

The unique name for this Connector.

ID

See Entity Identifier Reference.

Description

Text string.

Tags

See Tags Reference.

URL Type

You can select Git Account (which is a GitHub organization) or Git Repository.

You can add a connection to your entire Git org or just a repo in the org. Selecting a Git org enables you to use one Connector for all of your subordinate repos.

Later, when you test this connection, you'll use a repo in the org.

In either case, when you use the Connector later in Harness, you'll specify which repo to use.

Connection Type

You can select HTTPS or SSH for the connection.

You will need to provide the protocol-relevant URL in URL.

If you use Two-Factor Authentication for your Git repo, you connect over HTTPS or SSH. HTTPS connections require a personal access token.

For SSH, make sure that the key is PEM and not OpenSSH. To generate an SSHv2 key, use: 
ssh-keygen -t rsa -m PEM 
Use rsa and -m PEM to make sure that the algorithm and the key are PEM.
Next, follow the prompts to create the PEM key. See the  ssh-keygen man page and Connecting to GitHub with SSH.
Starting March 15, 2022, GitHub is fully deprecating RSA with SHA-1. GitHub will allow ECDSA and Ed25519 to be used. RSA keys uploaded after this date will work with SHA-2 signatures only (RSA keys uploaded before this date will continue to work with SHA-1). See Improving Git protocol security on GitHub from GitHub.

Generating an SSH key in ECDSA looks like this:

ssh-keygen -t ecdsa -b 256 -f /home/user/Documents/ECDSA/key -m pem

GitHub Repository URL

The URL for a Git org or repo. The URL format must match the Connection Type you selected --for example:

  • HTTPS: https://github.com/wings-software/harness-docs.git.
  • SSH: [email protected]:wings-software/harness-docs.git.

If you selected Git Repository in URL Type, enter the full URL for the repo with the format https://github.com/[org-name]/[repo-name].

If you selected Git Account in URL Type, enter the URL without the repo name, like https://github.com/[org-name]. You will need to provide a repo name before you can use the Connector in Harness.

Authentication

Read-only GitHub repos also require a username and password/token.

You can use a password/token for HTTPS credentials.

If you selected SSH as the connection protocol, you must add the SSH Key to use with the connection. 

Username

Your personal GitHub account username.

Personal Access Token

A Harness Encrypted Text secret for the credentials of your GitHub user account.

A Personal Access Token (PAT) is required if your GitHub authentication uses 2FA.

Typically, you can validate your token from the command line before using it in Harness. For example:

curl -i https://api.github.com -u <username>:<token>

If you have Two-Factor Authentication set up in your Git repo, then you need to generate a personal access token in your repo and enter that token in the Personal Access Token field. In GitHub, you can set up the personal access token at https://github.com/settings/tokens/new.

PAT Permissions

To use a personal access token with a GitHub organization that uses SAML single sign-on (SSO), you must first authorize the token. See Authorizing a personal access token for use with SAML single sign-on from GitHub.
  • The GitHub user account used to create the Personal Access Token must have admin permissions on the repo.
  • GitHub doesn't provide a way of scoping a PAT for read-only access to repos. You must select the following permissions:

SSH Key

If you selected SSH as the connection protocol, you must add the SSH Key to use with the connection as a Harness Encrypted Text secret. For detailed steps to create an SSH Key, see Add new SSH Key.

Harness also supports GitHub deploy keys. Deploy keys grant access to a single repo. Using a deploy key ensures that the Connector only works with the specific repo you selected in URL Type.

Enable API access

This option is required for using Git-based triggers, Webhooks management, and updating Git statuses.

You can use the same token you used in Personal Access Token.

API Authentication

You should use the same Personal Access Token for both Authentication and API Authentication.

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