How to Setup GitHub Issues Notifications

When ZoneWatcher detects a change to your DNS records, SSL certificates, or domain registration, it can automatically create a new issue in your specified GitHub repository. This allows your team to track, discuss, and resolve DNS-related events using your existing GitHub workflow.

Each notification creates a new issue with:

• A descriptive title summarizing the event
• Detailed information about what changed
• Links back to ZoneWatcher for more details
• Appropriate labels (if configured)

To allow ZoneWatcher to create issues in your repository, you'll need to create a Personal Access Token (PAT) with the appropriate permissions.

Follow these steps to create your token:

1. Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens
2. Click Generate new token (choose "Fine-grained tokens" for better security)
3. Give your token a descriptive name (e.g., "ZoneWatcher Notifications")
4. Set an expiration date (we recommend at least 90 days)
5. Under Repository access, select the specific repository where issues should be created
6. Under Permissions, grant Issues: Read and write access
7. Click Generate token
8. Copy the token immediately — you won't be able to see it again

If you prefer to use a classic Personal Access Token instead of fine-grained tokens:

1. Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
2. Click Generate new token (classic)
3. Give your token a descriptive name
4. Select the repo scope (or just public_repo if the repository is public)
5. Click Generate token
6. Copy the token immediately

ZoneWatcher allows you to create unlimited Notification Channels, which can be customized to create issues in different repositories.

Once you have your GitHub token, you can create a new Notification Channel by:

• Selecting "GitHub Issues" as the channel type
• Giving it a descriptive name (e.g., "Infrastructure Repo Issues")
• Entering the repository in username/repository format (e.g., acme-corp/infrastructure)
• Pasting your Personal Access Token
• Selecting which events you want to create issues for

You can customize which events trigger GitHub Issues:

• Zone Changed
• New Zone Discovered
• Zone Expiring Soon
• Zone Expired
• Zone Renewed
• Zone Nameservers Changed
• Zone Certificate Issued
• Provider Auto-Disabled

• Use a dedicated repository for infrastructure alerts to keep them organized
• Consider using fine-grained tokens with minimal permissions for better security
• Set up GitHub notification settings to alert your team when new issues are created
• Use GitHub's issue templates to standardize how your team responds to DNS alerts
• Periodically rotate your Personal Access Token for security
• Remember to update ZoneWatcher when you regenerate your token

If issues aren't being created in your repository, check the following:

• Verify the repository format is correct (username/repository or organization/repository)
• Ensure your Personal Access Token hasn't expired
• Confirm the token has the required Issues: Read and write permission
• Check that the token has access to the specific repository
• Verify the repository exists and you have write access to it
• For organization repositories, ensure the token is authorized for the organization