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GitHub App Permissions for the Smartling GitHub Connector

This article explains the permissions the Smartling GitHub App uses, and describes a temporary additional permission request, Workflows: Read and write, that GitHub may have asked your organization to approve.

Info: This article covers the Smartling GitHub App only. It does not apply to the OAuth App. It is intended for GitHub organization owners and Smartling Account Owners.

Permissions the Smartling GitHub App uses

The Smartling GitHub App requests the following repository permissions. You can review them on the installation page and under Third-party Access > GitHub Apps in your GitHub organization settings.

Permission

Access

How Smartling uses it

Commit statuses

Read and write

Posts translation status checks on commits and pull requests

Contents

Read and write

Reads source files, and creates delivery branches and commits that contain translated files

Metadata

Read

Required by GitHub for all GitHub Apps

Pull requests

Read and write

Opens, updates, and reads the pull requests that deliver translations.

Temporary new permission request: Workflows (Read and write)

What changed

The Smartling GitHub App is requesting one additional repository permission: Workflows: Read and write.

GitHub notifies the owners of accounts where the app is installed. You may have received an email from GitHub titled Updated Permissions Request that says "The GitHub App Smartling GitHub Connector is requesting additional access to your account."

Why Smartling is requesting it

In some cases, GitHub requires this permission when the Smartling GitHub Connector creates a delivery branch at an older commit, even though the connector never edits workflow files. Without it, those deliveries can fail with the error "Resource not accessible by integration".

This request is temporary

Smartling is working with GitHub to find out whether a narrower permission can replace Workflows: Read and write. We will update this article when we know more.

Do I need to approve it?

Only if you are seeing the delivery failures described above. If you don't approve the request, your installation keeps working with its current permissions and nothing else changes.

To check whether you are affected, look for delivery failures that mention "Resource not accessible by integration" when Smartling creates a branch. If you are unsure, contact Smartling Support.

What this permission allows

The Workflows permission lets an app create or change files in a repository's .github/workflows folder. The Smartling GitHub Connector does not write to that folder.

How to approve or ignore

In the GitHub email, click Review permission request to accept or ignore this change. You can also find pending requests under Organization settings > Installed GitHub Apps. Review the request there and approve it, or ignore it. If you ignore it, the Smartling GitHub Connector keeps its current permissions. For step-by-step instructions, see GitHub's guide, Approving updated permissions for a GitHub App.

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