I wrote a github app to merge code automatically if it passes CI checks and meets certain criteria that would designate the PR as a minimal change. For more involved changes, we do want owners to approve. It works in my test repo, but the repo I installed it on eventually has a CODEOWNERS file. When the app attempts to merge, I get an error message as shown below, even though it has merge access. There doesn’t seem to be any way to override this message, and this response is completely undocumented. Between this and github actions, I’ve had multiple mishaps and re-writes that I’ve had to do that have resulted in around 1-2 weeks of lost time on this project, primarily due to documentation issues and frankly bugs on what the docs say github supports. It would be nice if this stuff would work as documented and if bots with merge access wouldn’t get error messages back saying they can’t merge. Even just a force parameter to override the error message would give me what I need, but that doesn’t appear to exist.

# with merge bot (github app) token
$ curl -X PUT -H “Authorization: Bearer $INSTALL_TOKEN” -H “Accept: application/vnd.github.machine-man-preview+json” -H ‘Content-Type: application/json’ ‘https://api.github.com/repos/my-repo/pulls/234/merge’
-d ‘{
“commit_title”: “test merge by manually calling github API”,
“commit_message”: “Test commit”,
“merge_method”: “merge”
}’ | python -m ‘json.tool’
{
“message”: “Waiting on code owner review from <owner>”,
“documentation_url”: “https://help.github.com/articles/about-protected-branches”
}

# with user API token
curl -X PUT -H “Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN” -H “Accept: application/vnd.github.machine-man-preview+json” -H ‘Content-Type: application/json’ ‘https://api.github.com/repos/my-repo/pulls/234/merge’ -d ‘{
“commit_title”: “test merge by manually calling github API”,
“commit_message”: “Test commit”,
“merge_method”: “merge”
}’ | python -m ‘json.tool’
{
“sha”: “<sha>”,
“merged”: true,
“message”: “Pull Request successfully merged”
}

We also have a bot that needs the ability to force an approval and merge PRs. Where can we track this issue/feature request? Is it in a roadmap, ticket, or repo issue somewhere?

Best Regards

bump

It it possible to add a GitHub app to the CODEOWNERS file?

I also would find this very useful. Github, you should really look into this.

Waiting for this...

Eager to see this feature....

Or at least allow the bot to be added to a team.

The ability to add a github app to a team would be extremely helpful for our use-case given we use CODEOWNERS

We are also looking forward to it. This would be extremely helpful.

We also are using github apps to auto create and approve PRs. We also use CODEOWNERS on our repos and this would be very useful for us.

Hey @AndreaGriffiths11!
We are also developing a PR review assistant app at Spotify. Allowing the app as codeowner or adding it to a team would be super helpful.
Is there any update regarding this request?

Hello
GH actions works like a charm. 👏
However, GH bot not being a codeowner hinders our automation process.

Our org is also working towards an auto approval mechanism for renovate PRs. This would be extremely helpful. Waiting for this 🙇‍♀️

Hi!
We are also looking into this, +1 from EQT Partners

We are still waiting for the implementation of this! [at]github-team

+1

you can achieve automated approval processes with GitHub Apps by configuring your GitHub Actions workflow or using the GitHub API in your custom scripts. Here's a general approach:

1. GitHub Actions Workflow:

   • Create a GitHub Actions workflow that runs on pull requests.
   • Use the GitHub API to programmatically request reviews or approve pull requests.

   Example workflow YAML:

   name: Automated Approvals
   
   on:
     pull_request:
       types:
         - opened
   
   jobs:
     automate-approval:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
   
       steps:
         - name: Checkout repository
           uses: actions/checkout@v2
   
         - name: Approve pull request
           run: |
             # Use GitHub API to approve the pull request
             # Example: curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
             #   "https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/pulls/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/reviews" \
             #   -d '{"event": "APPROVE"}'

2. GitHub API in Custom Scripts:

   • If you prefer to use custom scripts outside of GitHub Actions, you can make API requests to the GitHub API using a personal access token with appropriate permissions.

   Example using cURL:

   TOKEN="YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN"
   PR_NUMBER="123"
   
   curl -X POST -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" \
     "https://api.github.com/repos/your-org/your-repo/pulls/$PR_NUMBER/reviews" \
     -d '{"event": "APPROVE"}'

Make sure to replace placeholders like YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN, your-org, and your-repo with your actual values.

Always be cautious with personal access tokens, and ensure they have the necessary permissions. It's good practice to use GitHub Actions with the GITHUB_TOKEN secret whenever possible, as it's automatically generated and has the appropriate permissions for the repository. Remember to adapt your scripts based on your specific requirements and security considerations.

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+1

We want to add @coderabbitai to our code owners.

My organisation would also love the ability to allow a GitHub App the ability to approve PRs where branch protection requires a review from CODEOWNERS. Please can we get an idea if this is on your roadmap or how we can track progress on this?

This is a huge limitation in Github Apps, and is preventing us from deprecating old service accounts and migrating them fully to Github Apps.