Pencel

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GitHub ​

Connect your GitHub account and Pencel can keep you up to date on your repositories: what's open, what changed and what needs attention. It can also open and comment on issues for you, with your approval.

What Pencel can do with it ​

  • Get a weekly picture. On Home, ask "Summarize the open pull requests in our website repo and flag anything waiting more than five days."
  • Turn feedback into work. "Open a GitHub issue for this customer bug report and label it bug."
  • Find something. "Where in our code do we calculate shipping fees?" or "Is there already an issue about the login timeout?"
  • Catch up on changes. "What changed in the main repo this week?"

What it can reach: the repositories your GitHub account can open, including their files, issues, pull requests and history.

Connect it ​

  1. Go to Settings ▸ Connections ▸ Recommended.
  2. Find GitHub and click Install, then Connect with GitHub.
  3. Pencel shows a short code and opens GitHub in your browser. Enter the code there (click Copy in Pencel to copy it) and authorize Pencel.
  4. Back in Pencel, the GitHub card reads Installed.

Use a personal access token instead ​

Signing in gives Pencel the same access to your repositories as your account has, including private ones. To limit it to certain repositories, use a fine-grained personal access token instead:

  1. Create the token in your GitHub settings, limited to the repositories and permissions you want.
  2. In Pencel, click Install on the GitHub card, then Or connect with an API token.
  3. Click Grant All & Continue, paste the token into Personal Access Token, and click Install & Connect.

What needs your approval ​

Opening or updating an issue, commenting, creating a branch or pull request, or changing a file all ask first. The approval card shows exactly what Pencel will write. You can approve it, Edit fields first, or Reject it.

For routine actions you trust, Always Allow stops Pencel asking about that action. In a room, deleting something asks every time.

Good to know ​

  • Work accounts. If your organization requires approval for third-party apps, an organization owner may need to approve Pencel before it can see the organization's private repositories.
  • Two organizations? Add a second connection with Add Connection and give each a clear name, like "GitHub (Client work)".
  • Rooms use only their own accounts. A room can read GitHub only if it's set up to use this connection. See its settings under Advanced ▸ Tools & accounts.

Disconnect or change what it can do ​

Go to Settings ▸ Connections ▸ Installed and open the ⋮ menu on the GitHub card.

  • Manage Tools: switch off anything you don't want Pencel to use, such as changing files. Click Save changes.
  • Disconnect: stop Pencel using it for now.
  • Remove: delete the connection and its saved sign-in from Pencel.

To also withdraw access on GitHub's side, revoke Pencel under the authorized apps in your GitHub settings, or delete the token.