GitHub personal access token

Use a GitHub fine-grained personal access token to connect GitHub KPIs in Elevale. This guide covers expiration, repository access, permissions, and organization access.

Where to create the token

1. Open GitHub Settings (your profile menu).
2. Under Access, open Credentials.
3. Open Personal access tokens → Fine-grained tokens.
4. Click Generate new token.

Direct link: Create a fine-grained token on GitHub

Expiration date

GitHub recommends setting an expiration date for security. When the token expires, GitHub KPI sync will stop until you reconnect in Elevale with a new token.

Choose an expiry that matches your review cycle (for example 30, 60, or 90 days). Set a calendar reminder before it lapses.

Repository access

Choose how many repositories the token can read. This choice controls which permission sections GitHub shows on the form.

Important: if you select Public repositories, GitHub only shows Account permissions. You will not see Contents, Issues, Pull requests, or Deployments. Elevale cannot use that option for KPI sync.

Select one of these instead:

• Only select repositories: use this when your KPIs target one or a few specific repos. This is the most restrictive and recommended default. After selecting repos, the Repository permissions section appears.
• All repositories: use this when you track multiple repos, switch repos often, or use organization-wide metrics across many repositories. This also shows Repository permissions.

If you pick specific repositories, include every repo you plan to use in KPI configuration (including private repos).

Do not use Public repositories unless you only need read-only access to public repo metadata and no Elevale KPIs.

Repository permissions

After you choose Only select repositories or All repositories, GitHub shows a Repository permissions section (separate from Account permissions).

GitHub splits permissions into separate sections. Elevale KPIs need permissions from Repository permissions, not Account permissions.

If you only see Account permissions, go back to Repository access and switch off Public repositories.

1. Scroll to the Permissions area on the token form.
2. Open the Repository permissions tab (not Account permissions).
3. Click + Add permissions (or open Select repository permissions).
4. Search for each permission below, tick it, then click Add permissions.
5. For each permission you added, set the access level to Read.

Add these repository permissions:

• Metadata (included automatically when you add any repository permission)
• Contents: repository details, releases, and contributor stats
• Issues: issue counts and close-time metrics
• Pull requests: open, closed, merged, and draft PR metrics
• Deployments: deployment and deployment status metrics

You do not need Account permissions for Elevale GitHub KPIs.

Organization access (for org KPIs)

Organization settings are separate from Repository permissions. They appear further down the token form under Organization access.

1. Click Add organization and select each org you use in Elevale.
2. Under that org's permissions, open Organization permissions (not Repository permissions).
3. Add Members and set it to Read.

This is required for organization-level KPIs (for example org repository count or org member count). Without it, org pickers in Elevale may be empty even when the connection succeeds.

Generate and connect

1. Click Generate token.
2. Copy the token immediately. GitHub shows it only once.
3. In Elevale, open Workspace Settings → Integrations, connect GitHub, and paste the token.
4. When creating KPIs, pick the organization (if needed) and repository to match the access you granted.

Classic tokens (alternative)

Classic personal access tokens still work. Create one under Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic) with these scopes:

• repo: full control of private repositories
• read:org: read org and team membership
• read:user: read user profile data

Fine-grained tokens are preferred because you can limit repositories and permissions more precisely.

Troubleshooting

• Invalid token: regenerate and paste the new token in Elevale.
• Only see Account permissions: you selected Public repositories. Change Repository access to Only select repositories or All repositories first.
• Cannot find Contents or Issues: open the Repository permissions tab (not Account permissions) and use + Add permissions there.
• 403 / forbidden: confirm Read access on Contents, Issues, Pull requests, and Deployments under Repository permissions for the target repos.
• No organizations listed: add Organization access with Members (Read) for each org.
• KPI shows zero or does not sync: confirm the KPI repo is included in repository access and permissions match the metric type.