GitHub time tracking integration - log hours against GitHub issues

Connect GitHub to SquadBear, search your org's issues from your timesheet, and log time against them. One-way and read-only. Nothing is written back.

SquadBear connects to GitHub so people can attach a real GitHub issue to a time entry, found by a search picker rather than typed from memory. Nothing is mirrored. An issue becomes a work item only when someone logs hours against it.

Time tracking has to be on.

What the GitHub integration does

On Time tracking → My week, Add work item runs full-text search across your organization's issues as you type (pull requests are filtered out), with results keyed owner/repo#123. Picking an issue drops it onto the grid and logs your hours. The first log against an issue creates one work item; later logs reuse it, so per-issue totals accumulate.

How to connect GitHub

An admin connects GitHub at Workspace settings → Issue trackers:

Open the GitHub row and choose Verify & connect.
Provide the organization login whose issues you want to search, plus a fine-grained personal access token with read access to that organization's issues (GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Fine-grained).
SquadBear verifies the credentials against GitHub before saving and stores the token encrypted.

To pin a project to one repository, set Issue source and Issue scope on that project at Workspace settings → Projects to an owner/repo (for example northlake/platform). The full guide is Connect an issue tracker.

Issues assigned to you

Link your GitHub login under My settings → Connected accounts. Search can then pick out issues assigned to you. There is no separate Assigned tab.

Log time against GitHub with an assistant

What stays in sync

Only an issue's key and cached title come from GitHub, refreshed the next time someone logs against it. No worklog, status or assignee is ever written back. Disconnecting hides the pickers; every hour already logged keeps its issue reference.

Frequently asked questions

What do I need to connect GitHub?

The organization login whose issues you want to search, and a fine-grained personal access token with read access to that organization's issues (GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Fine-grained). SquadBear verifies it before saving and stores it encrypted.

Are pull requests included in search?

No. Search is full-text across the organization's issues, and pull requests are filtered out. Results are keyed owner/repo#123.

Does SquadBear change anything in GitHub?

No. The integration is read-only and one-way. It reads issue titles and keys so you can log time in SquadBear. Nothing is written back to GitHub.

Why did my GitHub search hit a rate limit?

GitHub's issue search is the most tightly capped of the trackers, and the limit is shared across everyone in the workspace. SquadBear never auto-retries, so nothing queues up behind it. Wait a few seconds and search again.

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