Connect repositories and groups

Give a team its repositories: pick several at once, add a whole GitLab group or GitHub organisation that stays in sync, and see when kanman starts reading.

A team works on the repositories you give it. You can add them one by one, pick several at once, or connect a whole GitLab group or GitHub organisation, and kanman keeps that list up to date by itself. Everything on this page lives in Team > Repositories > Repositories. Owners, admins and the team’s leads can change it; everyone else sees it.

Pick repositories from the list

The list shows the repositories kanman can reach: the ones your workspace’s GitHub or GitLab connection sees, or, when everything runs on your own runners, the projects your runner sees. They are grouped by owner, organisation or group, newest activity first.

  • Search narrows the list as you type. Every word counts, so fm api finds fm/backend/api.
  • Click a repository to add it with its default branch. Added ones are marked.
  • Add all on a group’s heading adds every repository of that group and its subgroups that matches your search, in one step. Repositories you already have are left out.
  • Not in the list? Type the repository’s path, or paste a list of paths to add many at once.

The same list appears in the team setup, so you can pick a whole group there too.

Connect a whole group or organisation

Under Groups and organisations, connect a GitLab group (its subgroups are included) or a GitHub organisation:

  1. Choose GitLab group or GitHub organisation.
  2. Enter the address of your code host, for example https://gitlab.example.com, and the group’s path as in its URL, for example platform or platform/backend. For GitHub, the organisation’s name.
  3. Select Connect.

kanman first tries the access your workspace already has. When that reaches the group, it adds the group’s repositories:

  • Active repositories are added to the team.
  • Idle repositories, with no activity for 12 months, are listed under the group but not added or read. You can still add one from the list above.
  • Archived repositories are skipped.
  • Very large groups are read up to their 1,000 most active projects; the group says so.

Every hour kanman checks the group again. A repository that appeared since is added by itself, and kanman tells the team in its chat in one short line, for example “New repository fm/xyz appeared in fm. I’m having a look.” A repository someone removed from the team is not added back.

Leave repositories or subgroups out

Open Exclusions under the group and enter a repository or a subgroup, for example platform/legacy. kanman suggests the group’s subgroups and projects as you type. Excluded repositories leave the team at once and are not added again. Remove an exclusion to let new repositories from that path in again.

When kanman cannot reach the group

If the group’s row says Needs access, kanman shows two ways in and when each fits.

Add the kanman user to the group. Someone with the Owner role in the group adds the account your workspace connects with as Reporter, or as Developer where kanman should push changes. Then select Check again.

Use a group access token. If the group’s memberships come from LDAP (or another directory sync), the kanman user can’t stay a member. Then a group owner creates a group access token instead:

  1. Open the group in GitLab and go to its Access tokens page in the group’s settings.
  2. Add a new token: name it kanman, choose the role Reporter, the scopes read_api and read_repository, and set an expiry date.
  3. Copy the token and paste it under the group in kanman, then select Save token.

kanman stores the token encrypted and uses it only to read that group’s repositories. It never shows it again. With a read-only token kanman can read, learn and suggest, but it can’t push branches or open merge requests in that group; for that, its own account needs Developer access.

Two weeks and three days before the token expires, kanman tells the team’s leads in the team chat, with the steps to create a new one. Paste the new token with Replace token.

For a GitHub organisation, install the kanman GitHub App on the organisation (all repositories, or the ones kanman should read), or connect GitHub with an account that is a member. An organisation connected through the App shows the repositories the installation was given.

Removing a group keeps its repositories in the team; kanman only stops adding new ones.

When kanman starts reading

When a new team gets its repositories, kanman gets to know them and suggests a few small first stories in the team chat. Teams often add several repositories one after another, so kanman waits until the setup has calmed down before it starts:

  • While you are still adding repositories, the team chat says how many are connected and that kanman starts as soon as you close the settings. Start now starts it right away.
  • kanman starts when you leave the team settings, or by itself five minutes after the last change.
  • It needs model access and at least one repository it can read; the team chat says which of the two is still missing.
  • Repositories added later get a short look of their own, never a second introduction. Several added close together are looked at together.

The same applies when you connect a group: its first discovery is one setup step, and kanman starts once you are done.

Last updated: January 1, 0001

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