---
title: "GitHub Deployments"
canonical_url: "https://docs.getdx.com/connectors/github-deployments/"
md_url: "https://docs.getdx.com/connectors/github-deployments.md"
last_updated: "2026-06-08"
---
# GitHub Deployments
By enabling the GitHub Deployments connector, you can analyze production deployment events from GitHub and track deployment frequency metrics. In combination with other GitHub connectors, this enables metrics about the relationship between deployments and other events, like opened and merged pull requests. Please refer to the API documentation below and our [schema explorer](https://docs.getdx.com/schema/) to see what data DX imports - note that DX does not read or access your source code.
Before proceeding, please make sure that you have first enabled the GitHub connector by following the steps [here](https://docs.getdx.com/connectors/github/). Each GitHub credential in DX should utilize a separate GitHub App ID and API token to avoid rate limit issues.
## Prerequisites
To connect GitHub Deployments to DX, you need:
- a GitHub user account that is an [Organization owner](https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/managing-peoples-access-to-your-organization-with-roles/roles-in-an-organization#organization-owners) or [Enterprise owner](https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/admin/managing-accounts-and-repositories/managing-users-in-your-enterprise/roles-in-an-enterprise#enterprise-owners)
- an existing GitHub connector set up in DX
- allowlist [DX IP addresses](https://docs.getdx.com/allowlisting-dx/) if your GitHub instance is behind a firewall or has IP restrictions
## Setup instructions
Follow the steps below to connect GitHub Deployments to DX.
#### Step 1
- If you are using **GitHub Enterprise Cloud**, browse to the URL below with ENTERPRISE_NAME replaced:
```
https://github.com/enterprises/ENTERPRISE_NAME/settings/apps/new?public=false&url=https://getdx.com&metadata=read&actions=read&deployments=read&issues=read&pull_requests=read&members=read&request_oauth_on_install=false&setup_on_update=false&webhook_active=false
```
- If you are using **GitHub Enterprise Server** or **GitHub Team Edition**, browse to the URL below with ORGANIZATION_NAME replaced:
```
https://github.com/organizations/ORGANIZATION_NAME/settings/apps/new?public=false&url=https://getdx.com&metadata=read&deployments=read&issues=read&pull_requests=read&members=read&organization_administration=read&request_oauth_on_install=false&setup_on_update=false&webhook_active=false
```
#### Step 2
This will pre-populate settings and permissions, but you'll need to manually enter a name for your GitHub App. We recommend naming your app **[COMPANYNAME] DX - GitHub Deployments** to avoid naming collisions with other GitHub Apps.
Below are the read-only GitHub App permissions required by DX:
| Scope | Permission Type | Description |
| ------------ | --------------- | ----------------------- |
| Repository | Read-only | Access to Actions |
| Repository | Read-only | Access to Deployments |
| Repository | Read-only | Access to Issues |
| Repository | Read-only | Access to Metadata |
| Repository | Read-only | Access to Pull requests |
| Organization | Read-only | Access to Members |
#### Step 3
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Create GitHub App" button.
#### Step 4
The GitHub App ID will be shown at the top of the subsequent screen. Copy this ID down so it can be entered into DX later.
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#### Step 5
On the same screen, scroll down to the "Private keys" heading and click "Generate a private key" which will initiate a download of a PEM file. Copy the contents of this file to be entered into DX later.
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#### Step 6
Click on the "Install App" link in the sidebar navigation and then click "Install" beside your GitHub organization.
- To get your initial data imported as quickly as possible, please select only your most important repositories initially, then come back and select more later.
- By default, public repositories are not imported. If you would like public repositories to be imported, you can configure this after setting up the connector in your settings.
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#### Step 7
- Navigate to the connections page in DX and select **+ Connection** in the top right.
- Enter the credentials you have generated in the previous steps. Refer to the information below for errors and troubleshooting.
- Configure how DX will import deployments from GitHub:
- Optionally, choose whether or not to import deployments from **archived**, **public**, and **forked** repositories.
- After the first successful import, additional settings become available on the connection's edit page:
- **Production Environments:** Select which environments should be treated as production from a dropdown populated with environments discovered during import. If no environments are selected, deployments that GitHub itself marks as production are used, based on the `production_environment` boolean from the GitHub API.
- **Ignored Repositories:** Select repositories to exclude from deployment imports.
## API reference
The table below lists the specific API endpoints that are used by DX.
| Endpoint | Documentation |
|-------------------------------------------------------|---------------|
| /repos/{repo}/deployments | [Link](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/deployments/deployments#list-deployments) |
| /repos/{repo}/deployments/{deployment_id}/statuses | [Link](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/deployments/statuses#list-deployment-statuses) |
| /repos/{repo}/environments | [Link](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/deployments/environments#list-environments) |
## Errors
The table below lists potential error codes when adding a connection in DX.
| Error | Description |
|----------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `invalid_credentials` | Your API credentials entered are not valid. |
| `invalid_permissions` | Your GitHub App installation does not have the permissions required by DX, or is not installed to any GitHub organizations. |
| `no_resources` | Your GitHub App installation cannot access any repositories. |
| `private_key_needed` | The key passed in is not an RSA private key. |
## Curl commands
#### When connection verification fails
When DX verifies a GitHub Deployments connection, it checks app installations to ensure proper access with the required permissions. If your connection is failing, you can test these endpoints directly using the curl commands below to troubleshoot the issue.
#### Step 1: Generate JWT Token
First, create a bash script to generate a JWT token for authentication. Replace `YOUR_GITHUB_APP_ID` with your GitHub App ID and `PRIVATE_KEY_FILE` with your actual private key content:
```bash
APP_ID="YOUR_GITHUB_APP_ID"
PRIVATE_KEY_FILE="PRIVATE_KEY_FILE"
b64url() { base64 | tr -d '\n=' | tr '+/' '-_'; }
HEADER=$(printf '{"alg":"RS256","typ":"JWT"}' | b64url)
NOW=$(date +%s); EXP=$((NOW + 300))
PAYLOAD=$(printf '{"iat":%s,"exp":%s,"iss":"%s"}' "$NOW" "$EXP" "$APP_ID" | b64url)
tmp=$(mktemp)
tr -d '\r' < "$PRIVATE_KEY_FILE" > "$tmp"
SIG=$(printf '%s' "$HEADER.$PAYLOAD" | openssl dgst -sha256 -sign "$tmp" -binary | b64url)
rm -f "$tmp"
echo "$HEADER.$PAYLOAD.$SIG"
```
> **Note**: The `PRIVATE_KEY_FILE` should contain your complete private key including the `-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----` and `-----END PRIVATE KEY-----` lines.
Run this script to generate your JWT token, then use that token in the curl commands below.
#### Step 2: Test App Installations
Use the JWT token from Step 1 to verify that your GitHub App can access installations:
#### Step 3: Check Installation Permissions
For each installation ID returned above, check its permissions (replace `YOUR_INSTALLATION_ID` with an actual installation ID):
The response should include a list of installations with permissions. For successful verification, the installations should have at least these permissions:
- `actions`
- `deployments`
- `issues`
- `members`
- `metadata`
- `pull_requests`
## Data Cloud API
Once the initial connection is created successfully, credentials can be managed via the Data Cloud API. This connector uses the same credential fields as [GitHub](https://docs.getdx.com/connectors/github/#credential-fields) (`settings.github_app_id` and `secrets.private_key_pem`).
- [credentials.create](https://docs.getdx.com/datacloudapi/methods/credentials.create/)
- [credentials.update](https://docs.getdx.com/datacloudapi/methods/credentials.update/)
- [credentials.info](https://docs.getdx.com/datacloudapi/methods/credentials.info/)
- [credentials.list](https://docs.getdx.com/datacloudapi/methods/credentials.list/)
- [credentials.delete](https://docs.getdx.com/datacloudapi/methods/credentials.delete/)
---
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