# GitHub integration

Connect with GitHub to sync branches with your repository

Supabase Branching uses the Supabase GitHub integration to read files from your GitHub repository. With this integration, Supabase watches all commits, branches, and pull requests of your GitHub repository.

## Installation

In the Supabase Dashboard:

1. Go to **Project Settings** > [**Integrations**](/dashboard/project/_/settings/integrations).
2. Under **GitHub Integration**, click **Authorize GitHub**.
3. You are redirected to a GitHub authorization page. Click **Authorize Supabase**.
4. You are redirected back to the Integrations page. Choose a GitHub repository to connect your project to.
5. Set the **Working directory** field.
6. Configure the other options as needed to automate your GitHub connection.
7. Click **Enable integration**.

### Set the working directory

The working directory is the path from your repository root to the directory that contains the `supabase/` folder. Enter `.` when `supabase/` is at the repository root.

If `supabase/` is nested deeper in your repository, enter its parent directory instead. For example, if your layout is `apps/web/supabase/`, enter `apps/web`.

## Preparing your Git repository

You will be using the [Supabase CLI](/docs/guides/cli) to initialize your local `./supabase` directory:

1. **Initialize Supabase locally**

If you don't have a `./supabase` directory, you can create one:

```markdown
supabase init
```

2. **Pull your database migration**

Pull your database changes using `supabase db pull`. To get your database connection string, go to your project dashboard, click [Connect](/dashboard/project/_?showConnect=true&method=session) and look for the Session pooler connection string.

```markdown
supabase db pull --db-url <db_connection_string>

# Your Database connection string will look like this:
# postgres://postgres.xxxx:password@xxxx.pooler.supabase.com:5432/postgres
```

If you're in an [IPv6 environment](https://github.com/orgs/supabase/discussions/27034) or have the IPv4 Add-On, you can use the direct connection string instead of Supavisor in Session mode.

3. **Commit the `supabase` directory to Git**

Commit the `supabase` directory to Git, and push your changes to your remote repository.

```bash
git add supabase
git commit -m "Initial migration"
git push
```

## Syncing GitHub branches

Enable the **Automatic branching** option in your GitHub Integration configuration to automatically sync GitHub branches with Supabase branches.

When a new branch is created in GitHub, a corresponding branch is created in Supabase. (You can enable the **Supabase changes only** option to only create Supabase branches when Supabase files change.)

### Configuration

You can test configuration changes on your Preview Branch by configuring the `config.toml` file in your Supabase directory. See the [Configuration docs](/docs/guides/deployment/branching/configuration) for more information.

A comment is added to your PR with the deployment status of your preview branch.

### Migrations

The migrations in the `migrations` subdirectory of your Supabase directory are automatically run.

### Seeding

No production data is copied to your Preview branch. This is meant to protect your sensitive production data.

You can seed your Preview Branch with sample data using the `seed.sql` file in your Supabase directory. See the [Seeding docs](/docs/guides/local-development/seeding-your-database) for more information.

Data changes in your seed files are not merged to production.

## Deploying changes to production

Enable the **Deploy to production** option in your GitHub Integration configuration to automatically deploy changes when you push or merge to production branch.

The following changes are deployed:

- New migrations are applied
- Edge Functions declared in `config.toml` are deployed
- Storage buckets declared in `config.toml` are deployed

All other configurations, including API, Auth, and seed files, are ignored by default.

## Preventing migration failures

We highly recommend turning on a 'required check' for the Supabase integration. You can do this from your GitHub repository settings. This prevents PRs from being merged when migration checks fail, and stops invalid migrations from being merged into your production branch.

### Email notifications

To catch failures early, we also recommend subscribing to email notifications on your branch. Common errors include migration conflict, function deployment failure, or invalid configuration file.

You can setup a custom GitHub Action to monitor the status of any Supabase Branch.

```yaml name=.github/workflows/notify-failure.yaml
name: Branch Status

on:
  pull_request:
    types:
      - opened
      - reopened
      - synchronize
    branches:
      - main
      - develop
    paths:
      - 'supabase/**'

jobs:
  failed:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: fountainhead/action-wait-for-check@v1.2.0
        id: check
        with:
          checkName: Supabase Preview
          ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - if: ${{ steps.check.outputs.conclusion == 'failure' }}
        run: exit 1
```