Integrating GitHub with Slack

Learn how to integrate GitHub with Slack to improve collaboration and streamline workflows.

In this article

About the GitHub integration for Slack

The GitHub integration for Slack gives you and your teams full visibility into your GitHub projects directly in Slack channels. You can generate ideas, triage issues and collaborate with other teams to move projects forward, all without leaving Slack.

With the GitHub integration for Slack, you can:

  • Get GitHub notifications in Slack channels.
  • Use slash commands to take actions on GitHub.
  • Give your team context when sharing links to GitHub activities and properties.
  • Initiate a Copilot coding agent session from Slack, using the context of a Slack thread.

When you grant the GitHub app access to your Slack workspace, you are granting it certain permissions. The permissions provided are necessary for the app to function correctly and provide the features you expect. See Permissions for GitHub in Slack.

Prerequisites

To use the GitHub integration for Slack, you need:

  • A GitHub account.
  • A Slack workspace where you have permission to install apps.

Installing the GitHub integration for Slack

The GitHub app in the Slack Marketplace cannot be used with GitHub Enterprise Server. Instead, you need to configure a private Slack app to connect your GitHub Enterprise Server instance to your Slack workspace.

  1. Navigate to YOUR-GHES-INSTANCE:8443 and locate the "Chat integration" section.

  2. Select the "Enabling GitHub Chat integration" checkbox.

  3. Under "Select chat client", select "Slack".

  4. In your browser, navigate to the Slack API: Applications page and click Generate Token and select the workspace where the app will be used.

  5. Copy the generated token.

  6. Go back to the "Chat integration" section in your GitHub Enterprise Server instance and paste the token into the "App configuration token" field.

  7. Click Generate App.

  8. Once the app is generated, click Save settings.

  9. Navigate to either <instancename>/_slack/ or slack.<instancename> to install the app on your workspace.

  10. If the app needs to be installed across multiple workspaces, navigate to your app by clicking the "Slack app ID" link in the "Chat integration" section in your GitHub Enterprise Server instance.

    • Navigate to the "Manage Distribution" section in your app settings.
    • Select the "Remove hard coded information" checkbox, then click Activate Public Distribution

Further reading