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GitHub Actions Integration with Core App

This guide explains how to integrate your GitHub Core App with GitHub Actions workflows for organization-level automation.

What You'll Learn

Generate short-lived tokens, use them with GitHub CLI and APIs, implement common workflow patterns, and handle errors gracefully.

Prerequisites

Before integrating, ensure you have:

  1. Core App created and installed - See GitHub App Setup
  2. Secrets configured - CORE_APP_ID and CORE_APP_PRIVATE_KEY stored in GitHub
  3. Required permissions - App has permissions for your automation tasks

Authentication Methods

GitHub Apps support three authentication methods, each serving different use cases:

Method Scope Expiration Primary Use Case
JWT App-level 10 minutes Installation discovery, app metadata, bootstrapping
Installation Tokens Repository/Org 1 hour Repository operations, API access, automation
OAuth User context Configurable User-specific operations, web flows

Which authentication method should I use?

  • Most workflows → Installation Tokens (via actions/create-github-app-token)
  • App management → JWT (list installations, app configuration)
  • User operations → OAuth (actions on behalf of a user)

See the Authentication Decision Guide for detailed selection criteria.

What's Covered

This section walks through the complete integration lifecycle:

Authentication Methods:

Integration Patterns:

Operations:

References

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