Creating a GitHub App

To learn how to use GitHub App Manifests, which allow people to create preconfigured GitHub Apps, see "Creating GitHub Apps from a manifest."

1. Navigate to your account settings.

   • For a GitHub App owned by a user account, in the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings.
   • For a GitHub App owned by an organization, in the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Your organizations. Then, to the right of the organization, click Settings.

2. In the left sidebar, click Developer settings.

3. In the left sidebar, click GitHub Apps.

4. Click New GitHub App.

5. In "GitHub App name", type the name of your app.

   Give your app a clear and succinct name. Your app cannot have the same name as an existing GitHub account, unless it is your own user or organization name. A slugged version of your app's name will be shown in the user interface when your integration takes an action.

6. Optionally, in "Description", type a description of your app that users will see.

7. In "Homepage URL", type the full URL to your app's website.

8. In "Callback URL", type the full URL to redirect to after a user authorizes the installation. This URL is used if your app needs to identify and authorize user-to-server requests.

   You can use Add callback URL to provide additional callback URLs, up to a maximum of 10.

   

9. By default, to improve your app's security, your app will use expiring user authorization tokens. To opt-out of using expiring user tokens, you must deselect "Expire user authorization tokens". To learn more about setting up a refresh token flow and the benefits of expiring user tokens, see "Refreshing user-to-server access tokens."

10. If your app authorizes users using the OAuth flow, you can select Request user authorization (OAuth) during installation to allow people to authorize the app when they install it, saving a step. If you select this option, the "Setup URL" becomes unavailable and users will be redirected to your "User authorization callback URL" after installing the app. See "Authorizing users during installation" for more information.

11. If additional setup is required after installation, add a "Setup URL" to redirect users to after they install your app.

    Note: When you select Request user authorization (OAuth) during installation in the previous step, this field becomes unavailable and people will be redirected to the "User authorization callback URL" after installing the app.

12. In "Webhook URL", type the URL that events will POST to. Each app receives its own webhook which will notify you every time the app is installed or modified, as well as any other events the app subscribes to.

13. Optionally, in "Webhook Secret", type an optional secret token used to secure your webhooks.

    Note: We highly recommend that you set a secret token. For more information, see "Securing your webhooks."

14. In "Permissions", choose the permissions your app will request. For each type of permission, use the drop-down menu and click Read-only, Read & write, or No access.

15. In "Subscribe to events", choose the events you want your app to receive.

16. To choose where the app can be installed, select either Only on this account or Any account. For more information on installation options, see "Making a GitHub App public or private."

17. Click Create GitHub App.