Version control_

Configure version control integration for Functions and Sites in your self-hosted Appwrite instance.

1 min read

Configure GitHub app

Appwrite supports automatic deployments through Git integration. In order for Appwrite to access your repos, you must create a GitHub app to enable this integration. The GitHub app requires the following configurations.

For automatic Git deployment to work, Appwrite needs to receive communication from GitHub, this means your Appwrite project must be accessible on the internet. If you're running on localhost, you need to run a proxy like ngrok.

GitHub App name

The GitHub App name will be displayed when connecting Appwrite to GitHub. In addition, this name will be transformed to a slug ("My GitHub App" will become "my-github-app") and appear in the URL when accessing your app in GitHub. This slug should be set as the _APP_VCS_GITHUB_APP_NAME environment variable in Appwrite.

Homepage URL

The homepage URL will appear when looking at the public page of your app. It can be any URL you'd like.

Callback URL

GitHub will use callback URLs to redirect users back to Appwrite. Set these callback URLs under Identifying and authorizing users in the same order as listed below.

URLs
`https://<HOSTNAME_OR_IP>/v1/vcs/github/callback`
`https://<HOSTNAME_OR_IP>/v1/account/sessions/oauth2/callback/github/console`

Also, check the Request user authentication (OAuth) during installation box.

Post installation

Check the Redirect on update box under the Post installation section.

Webhook

GitHub will notify Appwrite about events like new commits using webhooks. Under Webhook, you need to check the Active checkbox. You also need to set the Webhook URL as https://<HOSTNAME_OR_IP>/v1/vcs/github/events.

If you're running Appwrite on localhost, GitHub can't send requests to Appwrite through webhooks and automatic deployments won't work. You'll need to host Appwrite on a server or use a proxy like ngrok to make Appwrite accessible to GitHub.

Repository permissions

Configure these permissions under the Repository permission dropdown.

Permission	Access
Administration	Read and write
Checks	Read and write
Commit Statuses	Read and write
Contents	Read and write
Issues	Read and write
Metadata	Read-only
Pull requests	Read and write
Webhooks	Read and write

Account permissions

Configure these permissions under the Account Permission dropdown.

Permission	Access
Email address	Read-only

Select these under the Subscribe to events dropdown.

Events
Pull request
Push

Where can this GitHub App be installed?

Check the Any account box under Where can this GitHub App be installed? section. This is important to allow you to install the GitHub app on multiple Appwrite projects.

Environment variables

After creating your app, you'll have to configure the following environment variables.

Variable	Description
`_APP_DOMAIN`	Your main Appwrite domain used to access the Appwrite Console. When setting a public suffix domain, Appwrite will attempt to issue a valid SSL certificate automatically. When used with a dev domain, Appwrite will assign a self-signed SSL certificate. If you're using a proxy for localhost development, such as ngrok, this will be the domain of your localhost proxy.
`_APP_DOMAIN_TARGET`	A hostname to serve as a CNAME target for your Appwrite custom domains. You can use the same value as used for the Appwrite `_APP_DOMAIN` variable. If you're using a proxy for localhost development, such as ngrok, this will be the domain of your localhost proxy, such as `dd65-2405-201-4013-d8d7-b4c5-fb73-39f9-285c.ngrok.io`.
`_APP_DOMAIN_FUNCTIONS`	This will be used for system generated Function Domains. When a function domain is generated, it will be `[UNIQUE_ID].[_APP_DOMAIN_FUNCTIONS]`. If `_APP_DOMAIN_FUNCTIONS` is set to `example.com` for example, the generated domain for functions will be something like `64d4d22db370ae41a32e.example.com`. You can use the same value as used for the Appwrite `_APP_DOMAIN` variable.
`_APP_DOMAIN_SITES`	This will be used for system generated Site Domains. When a site domain is generated, it will be `[UNIQUE_ID].[_APP_DOMAIN_SITES]`. If `_APP_DOMAIN_SITES` is set to `example.com` for example, the generated domain for sites will be something like `64d4d22db370ae41a32e.example.com`. You can use the same value as used for the Appwrite `_APP_DOMAIN` variable.
`_APP_VCS_GITHUB_APP_NAME`	Name of your GitHub app. This is the display name you'll see on GitHub and it will be visible in your GitHub app's URL.
`_APP_VCS_GITHUB_PRIVATE_KEY`	RSA private key from GitHub wrapped with double quotes and newlines replaced with `\n`. You can generate private keys from GitHub application settings.
`_APP_VCS_GITHUB_APP_ID`	GitHub application ID. You can find it in your GitHub application details.
`_APP_VCS_GITHUB_CLIENT_ID`	GitHub client ID. You can find it in your GitHub application details.
`_APP_VCS_GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET`	GitHub client secret. You can generate secrets in your GitHub application settings.
`_APP_VCS_GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	GitHub webhook secret. You can configure it in your GitHub application settings under webhook section.

For example, see below.

Bash

_APP_DOMAIN=appwrite.example.com
_APP_DOMAIN_TARGET=appwrite.example.com
_APP_DOMAIN_FUNCTIONS=functions.example.com
_APP_VCS_GITHUB_APP_NAME=my-github-app
_APP_VCS_GITHUB_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEogIBAAKCAQEAuT8f3lo/X83hfvb0ZN/KD2pl86o/jl3ywKrkj/PQZBmtEv/z\nIugE//sfFoHWc4cizkcji+n3FNU+GEdvMioKuJlPBqPTY8hAbVn7R0geZLpDV/rs\n[...]\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
_APP_VCS_GITHUB_APP_ID=12415
_APP_VCS_GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=Iv1.35asdf43asd
_APP_VCS_GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=35rsdse532q13
_APP_VCS_GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET=super-secret

Learn more about environment variables

Update existing GitHub apps

There are additional steps if you're updating permissions in existing GitHub apps. Every time you update your GitHub app's permissions, GitHub will prompt you to review the changes. You will receive an email and you'll find a prompt under Settings > Integrations > Applications > Installed GitHub Apps > find your GitHub app > Configure. You need to accept the new permissions so they're applied to your app.

Apply configuration

After creating your GitHub App, restart your Appwrite services to apply the configuration:

Bash

docker compose up -d

Verify configuration

To verify that your GitHub App is correctly configured:

Open the Appwrite Console and navigate to a project.
Go to either the Functions or Sites section.
Try creating a new Function or Site using GitHub as the source.
You should be prompted to install your GitHub App on your repositories.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues with your GitHub App integration:

Ensure your Appwrite instance is publicly accessible, as GitHub needs to send webhook events.
Check that the webhook URL is correctly formatted with your domain.
Verify the permissions granted to the GitHub App are correct.
Check the Appwrite logs for any errors related to GitHub integration:

Bash

docker compose logs appwrite

Applying changes

After editing your docker-compose.yml or .env files, you will need to recreate your Appwrite stack by running the following compose command in your terminal.

Bash

docker compose up -d

You can verify if the changes have been successfully applied by running this command:

Bash

docker compose exec appwrite vars

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