88 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
# GitHub accounts: how the agent authenticates
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How the agent's `gh` and `git push` authenticate, and how the GitHub notification poller works. What an operator does to give an agent an account is in [GitHub accounts](../../2-handbook/external-accounts/github.md).
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## How the agent uses it
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When enabled, the container gets:
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- **A `gh` wrapper** on `PATH` (shadowing the raw `gh`) that exports
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`GH_TOKEN` from the token file at invocation, then execs real `gh`. So
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`gh pr create`, `gh api …`, etc. just work — `gh` derives the identity
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from the token.
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- **A git credential helper** (`git-credential-hive-github`), wired via a
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host-scoped `/etc/gitconfig` entry for `https://github.com`, so
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`git push https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>` authenticates as
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`x-access-token` + the PAT (GitHub ignores the username for PAT auth).
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Host-scoped, so it never touches the forge (`localhost:3000`) or any
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other remote.
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Both scripts read the token from `/run/hive-agent-github-token/token`
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(`services.hyperhive.agent.github.tokenFile`) **at invocation
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time**, so a PAT fetched (or rotated) mid-session takes effect immediately
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— no container rebuild or restart. They never read the state dir. Until the file exists, `gh` / `git push`
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fail unauthenticated. The build bakes the token path into the scripts
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(rather than reading it from an env var), because claude's Bash tool runs in a
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minimal environment that wouldn't carry one.
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## Notifications
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`hive-github-notify` polls github.com for the agent, turning each unread
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notification thread into a todo. it's a **separate binary and a
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separate systemd unit** from the internal forge's poller
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(`hive-forge-notify`, see [the forge notification poller](forge-notify.md)),
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installed by `nix/agent-modules/github.nix` under
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`services.hyperhive.agent.github.enable`. Both binaries ship from the one
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`hive-forge-notify` derivation, so the unit is a second `ExecStart`
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path, not a new package.
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Two units rather than one daemon with two loops, because it puts the
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decision in nix: a hive built without this module has **no github poller
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in its closure at all**, which is what makes GitHub access separable
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rather than merely switched off. it's also why this isn't a cargo
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feature — a feature would unify across the workspace and cost every
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crate its build cache.
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At runtime the poller needs the PAT above, at the path in
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`HIVE_GITHUB_TOKEN_FILE` (the same `/run` file). No PAT, no polling: the unit
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logs why and exits 0, which is why it's `Restart = on-failure` and
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never `always` — a clean exit on a PAT-less agent must not become a
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restart loop. The poller waits about ten minutes for the PAT to appear
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before it gives up. A path unit (`hive-github-notify.path`) starts the poller
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again when the token file changes, so a PAT that lands later still
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enables polling. Once polling, it re-reads the file on every
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tick, so it picks up a rotated PAT on the next tick without a restart.
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Forgejo models its notifications API on GitHub's, so one tolerant
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parse serves both: `id`, `repository.full_name`,
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`subject {title,url,latest_comment_url}` and `updated_at` line up field
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for field. Lenient deserializers absorb the two real differences —
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GitHub sends the thread id as a _string_ where Forgejo
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sends a number, and says `PullRequest` where Forgejo says `Pull`.
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`hive-github-notify` prefixes todo keys `gh:<id>` so a github thread id can't collide with a
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forge one.
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Two host differences worth knowing before touching this code:
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- **Auth scheme, not just value.** Forgejo takes
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`Authorization: token <t>`; GitHub wants `Bearer <t>` plus `Accept:
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application/vnd.github+json`, `X-GitHub-Api-Version` and a
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`User-Agent`. Sending Forgejo's form to GitHub doesn't error — it
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authenticates as _nobody_ and silently drops to the unauthenticated
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rate limit. The cheap way to tell the two apart is the rate-limit
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header: `x-ratelimit-remaining` near 5000 is an authenticated user,
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near 60 is anonymous.
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- **GitHub sets the cadence.** It returns `X-Poll-Interval` (60s in
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practice, slower than the poller's own tick) and rate-limits callers who
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ignore it, so the loop re-arms to the server's interval whenever that's
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_slower_ than the poller's. A hint faster than the poller's own tick
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isn't a reason to poll harder.
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⚠️ **This needs the `notifications` scope on the PAT.** A token minted
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for `gh` + `git push` typically carries `repo` only, which is enough to
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push and open PRs but **not** to read the notification stream (nor to
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mark a thread read, which is the same scope). A PAT without it doesn't
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break anything: the poller logs the refusal and stays quiet, and the
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agent never gets GitHub wakes. If an agent's GitHub
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notifications never arrive, check the token's scopes first — the
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symptom is silence, not an error.
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