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 or synced — an issue becomes a task only when someone logs hours against it.
What the GitHub integration does
It lets you log time against GitHub issues from your SquadBear timesheet. On My week, the Work items panel's Search tab 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 as a task and logs your hours. The first log against an issue creates one task for it; logging against the same issue later — from anyone on the project — reuses that task, so per-issue totals accumulate.
How to connect GitHub
An admin connects GitHub from the projects screen:
- Go to Time Logging → Projects (admin only) and find the GitHub integration card.
- Click Connect and 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 narrow a project to one repository, set that project's issue-tracker scope to an owner/repo (e.g. northlake/platform). The full guide is Connect an issue tracker.
See issues assigned to you
The Work items panel's Assigned tab lists GitHub issues assigned to you, once your GitHub login is linked to your employee record. Linking is self-serve through a connected agent, or an admin can link it for you.
Log time against GitHub with an assistant
With a connected assistant over MCP, search and log against GitHub in plain language:
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 and Assigned tab; every hour already logged keeps its issue reference and stays on the timesheet.
Related
- Connect an issue tracker
- Time reports and exports
- Jira integration · Linear integration · Asana integration
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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