Complete Guide to Using Sidebrain with GitHub

For developers, Sidebrain + GitHub is a game-changer. Here's everything you can do.

Setting Up the Integration

Step 1: Connect Your Account

Go to Settings → Integrations → GitHub and click Connect.

Step 2: Authorize Access

Grant Sidebrain permission to:

• Read your repositories
• Read issues and PRs
• Read organization membership

Step 3: Verify Connection

Ask: "What repos do I have access to?"

If you see your repositories, you're all set!

What You Can Do

Pull Request Management

See PRs needing review:

"What PRs are waiting for my review?"

Get PR summaries:

"Summarize the changes in PR #123 on my-repo"

Check PR status:

"What's the status of my open PRs?"

Issue Tracking

List open issues:

"Show me open issues in my-repo"

Create issues:

"Create an issue in my-repo: 'Fix login timeout bug' with description..."

Search issues:

"Find issues about authentication in my-repo"

Code Search

Search across repos:

"Find all uses of useEffect in my frontend repo"

Find files:

"Where is the auth configuration in my-repo?"

Understand code:

"Explain what the UserService class does in my-repo"

Repository Insights

Activity summary:

"What happened in my-repo this week?"

Contributor activity:

"Who's been most active in my-repo lately?"

Power User Workflows

Daily Standup Prep

"For my standup: summarize my merged PRs this week, list my open PRs, and show any issues assigned to me"

PR Review Assistant

"Review PR #123 and tell me:

1. What files changed
2. Any potential issues
3. Questions I should ask the author"

Issue Triage

"Show me unassigned issues in my-repo, sorted by age. For each one, suggest who should own it based on the code area."

Sprint Planning

"List all open issues in my-repo with the 'sprint-12' label. Group them by area (frontend, backend, infra)."

Tips for Best Results

Be Specific About Repos

❌ "Check my PRs" ✅ "Check my PRs in the frontend-app repo"

Use Natural Language

You don't need GitHub's exact terminology:

• "pull requests" or "PRs"
• "bugs" or "issues"
• "master" or "main branch"

Combine with Other Integrations

"Check my calendar for the sprint planning meeting, then show me the open issues we should discuss"

Troubleshooting

"I can't see my organization repos"

Make sure you authorized organization access during OAuth. You may need to request access from your org admin.

"The PR summary is incomplete"

For large PRs, ask for specific files:

"Summarize just the changes to src/auth/ in PR #123"

"I get permission errors"

Reconnect the integration with the correct permissions, or check that you have access to the repository.

Security Notes

• Sidebrain has read-only access by default
• We don't store your code
• Write actions (create issue, comment) require your explicit request
• You can revoke access anytime in GitHub settings

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