In early 2024, we released the Octopus Deploy GitHub App — a seamless, secure integration between GitHub and Octopus Deploy. One of its biggest advantages is that it eliminates the need to manually manage GitHub credentials inside Octopus.
Since then, we’ve been listening closely to your feedback , looking for ways to make the experience even better. And today, we’re excited to share an improvement that will save you time and frustration when working with repositories.
What’s changed
Search and select support for GitHub repositories
Previously, when creating or modifying the repository used in a GitHub Connection within Octopus, you’d be presented with a list of all accessible repositories. This list was limited to 50 at a time — and there was no search feature.
If you had hundreds (or even thousands!) of repositories, this meant scrolling endlessly and hunting manually for the right one — especially if its name wasn’t near the top alphabetically.
With this update, you can now:
- Search for the repository you want — no more scrolling through pages to find that repo starting with a “z.”
- See a clear view of your selected repository — making it much easier to add or remove repositories as needed.
These improvements are automatically available to any GitHub App connections with access to all repositories. If your GitHub App is configured with access to only specific repositories, the previous functionality will remain.
Tip: If you work with many repositories and find the current experience slowing you down, consider updating your GitHub App settings to allow access to all repositories.
Use your GitHub App for any Git dependency
Previously, if a process step or database project needed to pull scripts, templates, or other files from another repository, you couldn’t use your existing GitHub App connection unless that repository was the project itself.
That meant:
- Managing separate Git credentials or access tokens for each additional repository.
- Expanding credential scopes and performing extra maintenance work.
- Using inconsistent authentication — project repo via GitHub App, dependencies via basic Git.
Now, you can use your GitHub App connection for any Git-based dependency, including:
- Automation script repositories
- Dependencies for database projects
- Any repository linked through the GitHub App
Benefits:
- Simpler setup — choose your GitHub App connection in the portal, without extra secrets or tokens.
- Consistent experience — the same secure connection works for your project repository and all related dependencies.
What’s next
When we first launched the Octopus Deploy GitHub App, it was available only for Octopus Cloud. But we know many of our self-hosted customers use GitHub too — and we have great news.
We will be starting work shortly to bring the GitHub App to self‑hosted Octopus Deploy instances. If you want to follow our progress, check out our roadmap item
Happy Deployments!
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