The GitHub integration connects your GitHub organization to 15Five AI, allowing Agents to incorporate engineering activity into organizational insights. By bringing conversations from issues, pull requests, reviews, and discussions into 15Five's context layer, the integration helps create a more complete picture of how work gets done across engineering teams.
Unlike traditional engineering metrics that focus primarily on output, the GitHub integration helps surface collaboration patterns, ownership signals, review participation, and mentorship behaviors that often remain hidden within repositories. This additional context enables Agents to generate richer insights and recommendations based on how teams contribute and collaborate.
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What It Enables
The GitHub integration gives 15Five Agents visibility into engineering work happening across connected repositories. By incorporating activity from issues, pull requests, reviews, and discussions, Agents can better understand how engineering teams collaborate and execute work.
This includes:
- Contribution and ownership patterns across repositories
- Collaboration trends between team members
- Review participation and feedback behaviors
- Mentorship and coaching signals
- Visibility into work in progress
- Engineering context that enriches AI-generated insights and recommendations
Feature Structure
The GitHub integration consists of several components that work together to make engineering activity available to 15Five AI.
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| GitHub App | A secure, read-only application installed within your GitHub organization. |
| Repository Access Controls | Determines which repositories are available to the integration. |
| Conversation Sync | Syncs issues, pull requests, comments, reviews, and reactions. |
| Metadata Sync | Syncs repository and contributor information that provides context for engineering activity. |
| User Matching | Associates GitHub contributors with users in 15Five. |
| Agents & Insights | Makes engineering activity available to Agents and AI-powered experiences. |
How Access Works
The GitHub integration uses a repository-based access model that gives organizations control over what information is shared with 15Five AI.
Only repositories that are explicitly selected during installation are accessible to the integration. Organizations can choose to include all repositories or limit access to a specific subset based on their needs.
Repositories that are not selected remain completely inaccessible to the integration. No conversations, metadata, or activity from excluded repositories are synced.
Repository selection is managed directly within GitHub and can be updated at any time without reconnecting the integration.
What Gets Synced
Once connected, the integration synchronizes collaboration activity and supporting metadata from selected repositories.
| Data Type | Included Information |
|---|---|
| Issues | Titles, descriptions, comments, labels, statuses, assignees, and milestones |
| Pull Requests | Titles, descriptions, review comments, and review discussions |
| Reactions | Emoji reactions on issues, pull requests, and comments |
| Repository Metadata | Repository names, descriptions, topics, and visibility settings |
| User Information | Names, GitHub usernames, and public email addresses |
| Activity Data | Timestamps related to issues, comments, reviews, merges, and closures |
Historical Activity
When the integration is first connected, 15Five AI imports up to one month of historical activity from selected repositories. After the initial backfill, new activity is synced on an ongoing basis.
What Does Not Get Synced
The GitHub integration is designed to understand engineering collaboration rather than analyze source code.
The following information is not accessed or ingested:
- Source code
- Repository file contents
- Branch contents
- Commit diffs
- Other repository content requiring code-read permissions
Comments and review discussions may occasionally contain pasted code snippets. In these situations, the snippet is treated as part of the comment text itself. The integration does not independently access or analyze the underlying source files.
Permissions Overview
The GitHub App requests a limited set of read-only permissions that allow it to access collaboration activity and contextual metadata.
| Permission | Access Level | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Metadata | Read | Access repository names, descriptions, topics, and visibility settings |
| Issues | Read | Access issues, comments, labels, assignees, and milestones |
| Pull Requests | Read | Access pull request details, review comments, and discussions |
| Members | Read | Associate GitHub activity with contributors in the organization |
| Email Addresses | Read | Match GitHub users to their corresponding 15Five accounts |
The GitHub App does not request permissions to access repository contents, source code, branch contents, or commit diffs.
Key Rules
Before enabling the integration, it's important to understand the following:
- Only repositories that are explicitly selected are accessible to the integration.
- Repository access is controlled by your organization and can be adjusted at any time.
- All GitHub permissions granted to the integration are read-only.
- The integration focuses on conversations and metadata rather than source code.
- Repositories that are not selected remain completely excluded from the integration.
Common Questions
Does 15Five AI read our source code?
No. The GitHub integration does not access source code, repository contents, branch contents, or commit diffs. It only syncs conversations and metadata related to engineering activity.
Can we choose which repositories are included?
Yes. Organizations control which repositories are available to the integration and can choose to include all repositories or only selected repositories.
What happens if a repository is not selected?
Repositories that are not selected are completely excluded from the integration. No content, metadata, or activity from those repositories is synced.
How much historical data is imported?
The integration backfills up to one month of historical activity from selected repositories during the initial connection.
Can the integration make changes in GitHub?
No. All permissions granted to the GitHub App are read-only. The integration cannot create, modify, or delete content within GitHub.
Why does the integration need access to email addresses?
Verified email addresses help associate GitHub contributors with their corresponding 15Five accounts so activity can be attributed to the correct individuals.
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