GitHub Telegram Notifications

A simple Node.js Express server that receives GitHub notifications with a webhook and formats and sends them to Telegram.

Using with Paul the Office Dog (easier)

• Add Paul the Office Dog to your Telegram group
• Add a webhook to your GitHub respository/organization according to Paul's instructions

Running your own instance (more private)

• Get a server.
• Get a domain/subdomain pointing to that server, so you can set up HTTPS for the webhooks.
• Configure a HTTPS reverse proxy with e.g. Nginx and Certbot.
• Install PM2 on the server.
• Copy .env.sample to .env and configure it:
  • DOMAIN is the domain name that the users of the bot will see.
  • HTTP_PORT is the same port that you set in Nginx proxy_pass.
  • SSH_USER is a username that has permissions to modify the files related to the deployment.
  • APP_DIR is a folder for the node app.
  • WWW_DIR is a folder for the static files that Nginx serves publicly.
• Inspect deploy.sh and make the needed folders and configurations on the server, or changes to the deploy script.
• Create a Telegram bot with BotFather
• Add the token to TELEGRAM_SECRET in .env
• Deploy the app with ./deploy.sh. It will:
  • Send the app files to your server.
  • Build the node app on the server.
  • (Re)start the PM2 app.
  • Register a webhook for Telegram.
• Follow the instructions in the Using with Paul the Office Dog section, except use your own Telegram bot.

Supported event types

• Commits
• Force push
• New branch
• Delete branch
• New pull request
• Merge pull request
• Reject pull request
• Issues

Why?

Why an integration?

• Keep people up to date on what is happening
• Feeling of togetherness
• Feeling of momentum
• Process best practises should be fun
  • Increase commit message quality
  • More feature branches

Why make your own?

• @GitHubBot needs unreasonable permissions
• Ours is easier to set up in a new project – critical in small hobby projects
• Message format is more clear and more delightful