Integrate with GitHub

Pro

GitHub integration with Plane allows seamless synchronization between your GitHub repositories and Plane projects. By linking the two, your issues and pull requests stay updated across both platforms, enhancing collaboration and streamlining your workflow. Whether you're managing code, tasks, or both, this integration ensures your team stays in sync without the hassle of switching between platforms.

Plane supports integration with:

• GitHub Cloud. The standard cloud-hosted GitHub service

• GitHub Enterprise Server. Self-hosted GitHub instances for organizations with specific compliance or security requirements

Set up GitHub integration

To get started, you'll need to connect your GitHub account, organization, and repositories with Plane. Follow the steps below to complete the setup:

1. Connect your GitHub organization
2. Connect your personal GitHub account
3. Add repository mappings

Connect GitHub organization

Link your GitHub organization to your Plane workspace to start syncing repositories.

GitHub Cloud

Plane self-hosted instances

If you're running a self-hosted instance of Plane, you'll need to first create and configure a GitHub App to get GitHub integration working. Follow this setup guide first before diving into the steps on this page.

1. Navigate to Workspace settings in Plane.
2. On the right pane, select Integrations.
3. Find the GitHub integration and click Configure.
4. In the Connect Organization section, click Connect.
5. On the GitHub app installation page, choose the organization you want to connect.
6. Select whether you want to sync all repositories or pick specific ones.
7. Click Install to finalize the connection.
8. After authorization, you’ll be redirected back to Plane, where your GitHub organization will appear as connected.

GitHub Enterprise Server

Plane Cloud and self-hosted instances

Before you can integrate with GitHub Enterprise Server, you must first create and configure a GitHub App in your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. This is required for both Plane Cloud and self-hosted users.

Follow this setup guide first before diving into the steps on this section.

1. Navigate to Workspace settings in Plane.
2. On the right pane, select Integrations.
3. Find the GitHub Enterprise integration and click Configure.
4. In the Connect Organization section, click Connect.
5. Fill the form with the details of your GitHub Enterprise instance and click Connect.
6. On the GitHub app installation page, choose the organization you want to connect.
7. Select whether you want to sync all repositories or pick specific ones.
8. Click Install to finalize the connection.
9. After authorization, you’ll be redirected back to Plane, where your GitHub organization will appear as connected.

Connect personal GitHub account

This step allows you to make comments on issues and pull requests in GitHub through your Plane account, using your personal GitHub identity.

When this connection is enabled, comments made in Plane will appear in GitHub under your GitHub user account, else comments will be posted as Plane GitHub App or your custom GitHub app name.

From Workspace settings

Workspace admins can connect their personal GitHub accounts from Workspace settings.

1. In the Connect personal account section under Integrations, click Connect.
2. Review the required permissions GitHub requests and authorize.
3. After granting permissions, you’ll see the status updated to show that your personal account is connected.

info

Only one Workspace Admin can connect their GitHub account via Workspace Settings. Others can connect their accounts through Profile Settings.

From Profile settings

If you don’t have admin access, you can still connect your personal GitHub account through your profile settings.

1. Go to Profile settings.
2. Select the Connections tab in the sidebar.
3. Choose the workspace where you want to connect your GitHub personal account.
4. Click Connect in the GitHub section, which will redirect you to GitHub for authentication.
   info

   If your workspace doesn’t have GitHub integration enabled, you won’t be able to connect your personal account. In this case, contact your Workspace Admin.

5. Once connected, your GitHub account will be listed in Plane.

Sync issues

With the GitHub integration set up, you can sync issues between Plane and GitHub at the project level. This ensures GitHub issues and Plane work items stay synchronized within your configured repositories and projects.

Add project work item sync

Once GitHub is connected to Plane, workspace admins can link GitHub repositories with Plane projects.

1. Navigate to the Project Issue Sync section under Integrations.
2. Click the (+) button to create a new sync mapping.
3. In the modal that appears, configure the following:

   1. Plane project
      Select the Plane project you want to sync with.

   2. GitHub repository
      Choose the GitHub repository to connect.

   3. Project issue sync
      Map GitHub issue states to Plane states:

      • Issue Open → Select a Plane state (e.g., Todo)
      • Issue Closed → Select a Plane state (e.g., Done)

   4. Select issue sync direction
      Choose how issues should sync:

      • Unidirectional → Sync issues from GitHub to Plane only.
        warning

        This will overwrite Plane work item content with GitHub issue data.

      • Bidirectional → Sync issues both ways between GitHub and Plane.

      

   5. Click Start Sync.

All configured project issue syncs will appear in a list where you can edit or remove them as needed.

Sync issues to Plane

After configuring project work item sync, you can link existing GitHub issues into your Plane project.

GitHub → Plane

1. In your GitHub repository, add the Plane label to any issue you want to sync.
2. The issue will automatically be created as a work item in the linked Plane project.
3. Plane posts a comment on the GitHub issue with a link to the newly created work item, confirming the connection.
4. The work item in Plane will include a link back to the original GitHub issue.

Sync work items to GitHub

If you have existing work items in Plane that you want to sync to GitHub, you can do so using labels.

Plane → GitHub

1. In your Plane project, add the GitHub label to any work item you want to sync.
2. A new issue will automatically be created in the linked GitHub repository.
3. The GitHub issue will be linked back to the Plane work item.
4. Future updates will sync according to your configured sync direction (unidirectional or bidirectional).

How issue syncing works

State synchronization

• When a GitHub issue is opened or closed, the corresponding Plane work item automatically moves to the mapped state.
• With bidirectional sync enabled, state changes in Plane work items will also update the GitHub issue status (open/closed).

Creating synced issues

• Issues created in GitHub (within a synced repository) are automatically created in the linked Plane project.
• With bidirectional sync enabled, work items created in Plane (with the sync configured) are also created in GitHub.

Continuous updates

• All synced properties (title, description, assignees, labels, comments, etc.) update automatically based on your sync direction settings.
• See What gets synced? for detailed information on property-level sync behavior

What gets synced?

important

By default, syncing is unidirectional (GitHub → Plane only). Data from GitHub issues will overwrite corresponding data in Plane. Changes made in Plane will not sync back to GitHub unless you enable Bidirectional sync in your integration settings.

Here’s what syncs automatically between Plane and GitHub:

Property	Sync direction	Notes
Title	Both ways	Updates in either platform reflect in the other.
Description	Both ways	Content remains consistent between Plane and GitHub.
Assignees	Both ways	Assigned users are mapped based on the initial setup. If a user isn’t mapped, the assignee field may be left empty.
Labels	Both ways	If a Label doesn’t exist in Plane, it will be created (and vice versa).
States	GitHub → Plane	Changes in Plane do not update GitHub states. However, if an issue is closed in GitHub, it automatically moves to the Done state in Plane.
Comments	Both ways	Comments sync between platforms with source attribution. If the commenter isn’t mapped to a Plane user, the comment appears as posted by the GitHub Bot. See Connect personal GitHub account for more info.
Mentions	Both ways	Mentioned users sync if they are mapped; otherwise, a GitHub profile link is included.
Issue links	GitHub → Plane	Any issue references in GitHub descriptions or comments will be displayed in Plane with a direct link to the issue including the repository name and owner.

Configure PR state automation

Pull requests (PRs) are also synchronized with Plane to ensure work item tracking remains accurate throughout the development lifecycle.

Add pull request mapping

Once GitHub is connected to Plane, workspace admins can configure pull request state mapping for Plane projects. This ensures PR states automatically sync with work item states in the mapped project.

1. Navigate to the Pull request state mapping section.
2. Click the (+) button to create a new mapping.
3. In the modal that appears, configure the following:
   • Plane project
     Select the Plane project where PR state automation should be enabled.
   • Pull request automation Map GitHub pull request states to Plane work item states
4. Click Save.

All configured pull request state mappings will appear in a list where you can edit or remove them as needed.

Set up PR automation

To automate pull request state changes with Plane work items:

1. Configure PR state mapping for your Plane project to enable PR state automation. See Add pull request mapping.
2. Reference Plane work items in your GitHub PR title or description using the appropriate format. See Reference formats below.
3. Automatic state updates will move the work item state in Plane based on the GitHub PR state defined in your mapping.

Reference formats

There are two ways to reference Plane work items in your GitHub PRs:

With brackets [WEB-344] - State automation

• Links the work item to the PR
• Adds a comment from Plane App showing linked work items
• Automatically updates the work item state based on PR state changes (as configured in your PR state mapping)

Without brackets WEB-344 - Link only

• Links the work item to the PR as a reference
• Adds a comment from Plane App showing referenced work items
• Does not trigger automatic state updates

Example

PR Title: [WEB-344] Add user authentication feature
PR Description: Implements login functionality for WEB-345

In this example:

• WEB-344 will be fully automated (state changes with PR state)
• WEB-345 will be linked as a reference only (no state automation)

PR lifecycle mapping

The lifecycle of a pull request can be mapped to workflow states in Plane. The following PR states are available for mapping:

• A draft PR is created.
• A PR is opened.
• A review is requested.
• The PR is approved and ready to be merged.
• The PR is successfully merged.
• The PR is closed without merging.

Issue backlinks in pull requests

When a PR references Plane work items, Plane will post a confirmation comment on the pull request, ensuring visibility into which issues are linked.

---

With GitHub integration, Plane makes managing your issues and pull requests across both platforms easy and efficient. Whether you’re tracking progress, syncing updates, or managing workflows, you’ll always have a clear view of your project’s status.