If you’re using Claude Code for software development, connecting it to GitHub can make your development workflow much more powerful. You can connect your GitHub repository, install the Claude GitHub App, and configure GitHub Actions so Claude can work with your pull requests.
In this guide, I’ll show you the complete process step by step.
What You’ll Set Up
By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have:
- GitHub CLI installed and authenticated
- Claude Code connected to your GitHub repository
- The Claude GitHub App installed
- GitHub Actions workflows configured
- Claude Code working as a GitHub pull request assistant
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Install GitHub CLI
Before connecting GitHub to Claude Code, we first need to install the GitHub CLI.
GitHub CLI brings GitHub directly into your terminal. It is free, open source, and available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Open your web browser and search for GitHub CLI, then open the official GitHub CLI website.
Visit Github CLI: https://cli.github.com/Based on your operating system, select the installation option that works for you.
Install GitHub CLI on Windows
If you’re using Windows, you can install GitHub CLI using either:
- WinGet
- MSI installer
Choose whichever installation method you prefer.
Install GitHub CLI on macOS
I’m using macOS, so I’ll install GitHub CLI using Homebrew.
Copy the Homebrew installation command from the GitHub CLI website.
Now open your terminal, paste the command, and press Enter.
Within a few seconds, GitHub CLI should be installed successfully.
Authenticate GitHub CLI
Next, we need to authenticate GitHub CLI with our GitHub account.
Open your terminal and run:
gh auth login
Press Enter to start the interactive login process.
GitHub CLI will ask where you use GitHub.
Choose:
GitHub.com
Next, choose your preferred protocol for Git operations.
I’ll select:
HTTPS
GitHub will then ask whether you want to authenticate Git with your GitHub credentials.
Type Y and press Enter.
Next, choose the option to log in with a web browser.
You’ll see a one-time authentication code.
Copy or note down this code, then press Enter.
A browser window will open where you can authorize GitHub CLI.
Paste the authentication code and click Continue.
Next, authorize your GitHub account by clicking Authorize GitHub.
Once you see the congratulations message, the authentication is complete.
You can close the browser tab and return to your terminal.
GitHub CLI is now ready to use.
Step 2: Launch Claude Code
Next, we need to launch Claude Code.
Open a project in VS Code or use any IDE that you normally work with.
I’ll open my project in VS Code.
Now open the integrated terminal and run:
claude
Press Enter to start a Claude Code session.
You should now see the Claude Code interface.
Step 3: Install the Claude GitHub App
Now we can install the Claude GitHub App.
Inside the Claude Code chat box, enter:
/install-github-app
Execute the command.
This command will start the process of installing the Claude GitHub App and connecting it to your repository.
Claude Code will ask you for a GitHub repository URL.
Open your GitHub account and go to Repositories.
Select the repository you want to connect and copy its repository URL.
Return to VS Code, paste the repository URL into Claude Code, and press Enter.
A new browser tab will open with the Claude GitHub App installation page.
Click Install.
You’ll then be redirected to GitHub to authorize the application.
Choose Repository Access
GitHub allows you to control which repositories the Claude GitHub App can access.
You can either:
- Allow access to all repositories
- Restrict access to specific repositories
For this tutorial, I’ll choose the specific repository option.
Select your repository from the list and click:
Install and Authorize
Then click:
Finish Connecting GitHub
And that’s it.
GitHub is now connected to Claude Code.
Set Up GitHub Actions
Return to the VS Code terminal.
You should now see that the Claude GitHub App has been installed.
Claude Code will also give you the option to configure GitHub Actions workflows.
You can either set up the workflows or skip this step for now.
I’ll choose the first option and set up the GitHub Actions workflows.
You’ll see that two GitHub Actions workflows will be installed.
Press Enter to continue.
Choose an API Key
Next, Claude asks you to choose an API key.
I’ll choose the option to create a long-lived token using my Claude subscription, which allows me to use it with Claude and Claude Code.
A browser window will open and ask you to sign in to your Claude account.
Sign in to your Claude account, authorize the connection, and complete the setup.
Now return to the VS Code terminal.
You should see that the GitHub Actions workflow is being created.
After a few seconds, Claude Code creates a pull request in your GitHub repository.
Review the pull request, and if everything looks correct, click Create Pull Request.
And that’s it.
We’ve successfully added the Claude Code GitHub workflow to the repository.
You can now use Claude Code as a GitHub pull request assistant.
Let’s Test It
Now let’s see how this works in practice.
I’ll close the current terminal and open a new one.
Then I’ll launch Claude Code again.
claude
Next, I’ll ask Claude Code to clone my GitHub repository.
Claude will ask me for the repository URL.
I’ll paste the repository URL and press Enter.
You can see that Claude Code is successfully cloning my GitHub repository.
Once the repository is cloned, I’ll ask Claude to install the dependencies and start the development server.
Claude Code will install the Node modules and all the required packages.
Finally, it starts the Next.js development server on my local machine.
As you can see, everything is working successfully.
Conclusion
So, in this tutorial, we connected GitHub to Claude Code, installed the Claude GitHub App, and configured a GitHub Actions workflow.
You can now use Claude Code with your GitHub repositories and take advantage of Claude as a GitHub pull request assistant.
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