GitHub Integration

The Discord Exporter Bot can automatically commit and push daily digests to a GitHub repository, providing version control, backup, and easy sharing of your team’s activity summaries.

Overview

When GitHub integration is enabled, the bot:

Clones your repository on first run (bot.py:429-454)
Pulls latest changes before each digest (bot.py:407-427)
Commits each new digest with a descriptive message (bot.py:526-532)
Pushes to the main branch automatically (bot.py:540-545)

GitHub integration is optional. Without it, digests are only saved locally.

Prerequisites

Create a GitHub repository

Create a new repository to store your digests:

Go to github.com/new
Choose a repository name (e.g., team-discord-digests)
Set to Private (recommended for team data)
Important: Initialize with a README or make an initial commit
Click “Create repository”

The bot expects the repository to already exist with at least one commit on the main branch. It will not create the repository for you.

Generate a Personal Access Token

Create a token with repository access:

Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
Click “Generate new token (classic)”
Configure the token:
- Note: Discord Bot Digest Sync
- Expiration: Choose based on your security policy
- Scopes: Select repo (Full control of private repositories)
Click “Generate token”
Copy the token immediately - you won’t be able to see it again

The token must have repo scope to clone private repositories and push commits.

Configure environment variables

Add to your .env file:

GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/username/team-discord-digests.git
GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Replace:

username with your GitHub username or organization
team-discord-digests with your repository name
ghp_xxx with your actual token

Configuration

GITHUB_REPO_URL

string

Full HTTPS URL to your GitHub repository.Format:

https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}.git

Examples:

# Personal repository
GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/johndoe/discord-digests.git

# Organization repository
GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/acme-corp/team-digests.git

Must use HTTPS URL (starting with https://), not SSH URL (starting with git@).

GITHUB_TOKEN

string

Personal Access Token for authentication.Format: ghp_ followed by 36 alphanumeric charactersSecurity best practices:

Never commit this token to version control
Use a token with minimal required permissions (repo scope only)
Set an expiration date and rotate tokens regularly
Use different tokens for different bots/services

GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How It Works

First Run: Repository Clone

When the bot runs for the first time with GitHub configured, it clones your repository (bot.py:429-494):

# The bot constructs an authenticated URL
auth_url = config.github_repo_url.replace(
    "https://",
    f"https://{config.github_token}@"
)
# Result: https://TOKEN@github.com/user/repo.git

# Clone the repository
subprocess.run(["git", "clone", auth_url, output_path])

What happens:

Bot checks if .git directory exists
If not, creates output directory (e.g., /app/data/Daily Digests)
Clones repository into that directory
Logs: "Git repo cloned successfully"

Fallback behavior: If the directory already has files, the bot tries an alternative initialization:

git init
git remote add origin <auth_url>
git fetch
git checkout -b main origin/main

Subsequent Runs: Pull Latest Changes

Before creating each digest, the bot pulls updates (bot.py:407-427):

# Fetch latest changes
subprocess.run(["git", "-C", output_path, "fetch"])

# Merge into current branch
subprocess.run(["git", "-C", output_path, "merge", "origin/main"])

Why this matters: If you manually edit digests in GitHub’s web interface or from another location, the bot will pull those changes before adding new commits.

Commit and Push: Saving Digests

After generating a digest, the bot commits and pushes (bot.py:497-552):

# Configure git identity
git config user.name "Discord Bot"
git config user.email "bot@discord.local"

# Stage the file
git add "2026-03-04 - Team Digest.md"

# Commit with descriptive message
git commit -m "Daily digest for 2026-03-04"

# Push to remote
git push <auth_url> main

Commit metadata:

Author: Discord Bot <bot@discord.local>
Message format: Daily digest for YYYY-MM-DD
Branch: main

Repository Structure

Your GitHub repository will be organized like this:

your-repo/
├── .git/
├── README.md
├── 2026-03-04 - Team Digest.md
├── 2026-03-03 - Team Digest.md
├── 2026-03-02 - Team Digest.md
├── 2026-03-01 - Team Digest.md
└── ...

File naming: YYYY-MM-DD - Team Digest.md (bot.py:387) Directory name: Daily Digests (configurable via config.digests_dir)

Example Digest File

Each digest is a fully-formatted Markdown file with frontmatter:

2026-03-04 - Team Digest.md

---
date: 2026-03-04
type: daily-digest
tags: [team, standup, daily]
contributors: 5
messages: 42
channels: 3
---

# Team Digest - 2026-03-04

**📊 Activity Summary**
- 42 messages across 3 channels
- 5 active team members
- Time range: Last 24 hours

---

## Individual Updates

**Alice** worked on:
- Implemented user authentication flow
- Fixed bug in password reset

**Bob** completed:
- Database migration for new schema
- Performance optimization on queries

## Blockers & Challenges

**Charlie** mentioned:
- Waiting on API access from vendor
- Need design review for new dashboard

---

**🔗 Links**
- [[2026-03-03 - Team Digest|← Previous Day]]
- [[2026-03-05 - Team Digest|Next Day →]]

---
*Auto-generated at 12:00 AM ET from Discord*

Features:

YAML frontmatter for metadata
Structured sections (Updates, Blockers, Decisions, etc.)
Activity statistics
Obsidian-style wiki links to previous/next days
Timestamp of generation

Git Configuration

The bot automatically configures git with these settings (bot.py:506-516):

git config user.name "Discord Bot"
git config user.email "bot@discord.local"

Why these values?

Identifies commits as bot-generated
Prevents conflicts with your personal git config
No GitHub account required for this email

Customization: To change these values, edit git_commit_and_push() function in bot.py:

subprocess.run(
    ["git", "-C", output_path, "config", "user.name", "Your Team Bot"],
    check=True
)
subprocess.run(
    ["git", "-C", output_path, "config", "user.email", "bot@yourteam.com"],
    check=True
)

Troubleshooting

Authentication Fails

Error: fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/...' Causes:

Invalid or expired token
Token lacks repo scope
Token hasn’t been copied correctly (missing characters)

Solutions:

# Test your token manually
curl -H "Authorization: token ghp_xxx" https://api.github.com/user

# Should return your GitHub user info

Regenerate token if needed:

Go to GitHub tokens page
Delete old token
Create new token with repo scope
Update .env file
Restart bot

Repository Not Found

Error: fatal: repository 'https://github.com/...' not found Causes:

Repository doesn’t exist
URL is misspelled
Token doesn’t have access to private repository

Solutions:

# Verify repository exists
curl https://github.com/username/repo

# Check token has access
curl -H "Authorization: token ghp_xxx" https://api.github.com/repos/username/repo

Push Rejected

Error: error: failed to push some refs to 'https://github.com/...' Causes:

Remote has commits that local doesn’t have
Branch protection rules prevent push

Solutions:

# Check bot's git status
docker exec discord-bot git -C /app/data/Daily\ Digests status

# Pull latest changes
docker exec discord-bot git -C /app/data/Daily\ Digests pull origin main

# Restart bot to retry
docker restart discord-bot

Clone Fails (Directory Not Empty)

Error: fatal: destination path '...' already exists and is not an empty directory Solution: The bot has fallback logic (bot.py:460-494), but if it still fails:

# Remove existing directory
rm -rf ./data/Daily\ Digests

# Restart bot to re-clone
docker restart discord-bot

Git Not Installed

Error: git: command not found Solution: This should never happen with the provided Dockerfile (includes git installation), but if you’re running without Docker:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y git

# macOS
brew install git

# Alpine Linux (if using different base image)
apk add --no-cache git

Viewing Digests on GitHub

Web Interface

Navigate to your repository: https://github.com/username/repo GitHub will render Markdown files beautifully:

Click any YYYY-MM-DD - Team Digest.md file
View formatted content with headings, lists, and links
See commit history for each file

Commit History

View all digest commits:

https://github.com/username/repo/commits/main

Each commit shows:

Date: When the digest was created
Message: Daily digest for YYYY-MM-DD
Author: Discord Bot
Files changed: 1 file (the digest)

Clone Locally

Clone the repository to view digests offline:

git clone https://github.com/username/team-discord-digests.git
cd team-discord-digests

# View all digests
ls -lh *.md

# Read a specific digest
cat 2026-03-04\ -\ Team\ Digest.md

Advanced: Multiple Bots

If you run multiple Discord bots for different servers, you can:

Option 1: Different Repositories

Each bot pushes to its own repository:

# Bot 1 (.env)
GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/myorg/team-a-digests.git
GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxx

# Bot 2 (.env)
GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/myorg/team-b-digests.git
GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_yyy

Option 2: Different Branches

All bots push to the same repository but different branches: Limitation: Current implementation hardcodes main branch (bot.py:486, 541). You’d need to modify the code:

# bot.py - make branch configurable
branch_name = os.getenv("GITHUB_BRANCH", "main")

# In init_git_repo()
subprocess.run(
    ["git", "checkout", "-b", branch_name, f"origin/{branch_name}"]
)

# In git_commit_and_push()
subprocess.run(
    ["git", "-C", output_path, "push", auth_url, branch_name]
)

Then in .env:

GITHUB_BRANCH=team-a

Option 3: Subdirectories

Customize digests_dir to organize by team:

# bot.py
digests_dir: str = "Daily Digests/Team A"  # or from env var

your-repo/
├── Daily Digests/
│   ├── Team A/
│   │   ├── 2026-03-04 - Team Digest.md
│   │   └── ...
│   └── Team B/
│       ├── 2026-03-04 - Team Digest.md
│       └── ...

Best Practices

Use a dedicated repository

Create a separate repository just for digests rather than mixing with code. This makes it easier to share access with team leads without exposing source code.

Set repository to Private

Discord conversations may contain sensitive information. Always use a private repository unless your team explicitly approves public sharing.

Rotate tokens regularly

Set token expiration to 90 days and create calendar reminders to rotate before expiry.

Add a README to your digest repo

Explain what the repository contains and how digests are generated:

# Team Discord Digests

This repository contains automatically generated daily summaries of our Discord server activity.

## How it works
- Bot runs at midnight ET every day
- Analyzes last 24 hours of messages
- Uses Claude AI to extract key updates, blockers, and decisions
- Commits digest as Markdown file

## Viewing digests
Click any `YYYY-MM-DD - Team Digest.md` file to view that day's summary.

Grant appropriate access

Give team leads and managers Read access to the repository so they can review digests without being in Discord.

Monitor repository size

Each digest is ~2-10 KB. At 365 days/year:

1 year: ~1-4 MB
5 years: ~5-20 MB

Repository will stay small and fast indefinitely.

Integration with Other Tools

Obsidian

The digests are formatted for Obsidian with:

YAML frontmatter
Wiki-style internal links
Daily note structure

Setup:

# Clone your digest repo into Obsidian vault
cd ~/ObsidianVault
git clone https://github.com/username/team-digests.git "Team Digests"

# Pull daily to get latest digests
cd "Team Digests" && git pull

Notion

Import digests to Notion:

Use Notion’s “Import” feature
Select “Markdown & CSV”
Upload digest files
Notion will preserve formatting and frontmatter

Slack/Email Notifications

Use GitHub Actions to notify on new commits:

.github/workflows/notify.yml

name: Notify on Digest
on:
  push:
    paths:
      - '*.md'

jobs:
  notify:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Send Slack notification
        uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1
        with:
          webhook: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
          message: "New team digest available: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }}"

Disabling GitHub Integration

To disable GitHub sync:

Remove from .env:
```
#GITHUB_REPO_URL=
#GITHUB_TOKEN=
```
Or set to empty:
```
GITHUB_REPO_URL=
GITHUB_TOKEN=
```
Restart bot:
```
docker restart discord-bot
```

Digests will still be saved locally to /app/digests/ but won’t be pushed to GitHub. Bot logs will show:

GitHub not configured, skipping push

Get Started

Configuration

Commands

Features

API Reference

Overview

Prerequisites

Configuration

How It Works

First Run: Repository Clone

Subsequent Runs: Pull Latest Changes

Commit and Push: Saving Digests

Repository Structure

Example Digest File

Git Configuration

Troubleshooting

Authentication Fails

Repository Not Found

Push Rejected

Clone Fails (Directory Not Empty)

Git Not Installed

Viewing Digests on GitHub

Web Interface

Commit History

Clone Locally

Advanced: Multiple Bots

Option 1: Different Repositories

Option 2: Different Branches

Option 3: Subdirectories

Best Practices

Integration with Other Tools

Obsidian

Notion

Slack/Email Notifications

Disabling GitHub Integration

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Configuration

Commands

Features

API Reference

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Configuration

​How It Works

​First Run: Repository Clone

​Subsequent Runs: Pull Latest Changes

​Commit and Push: Saving Digests

​Repository Structure

​Example Digest File

​Git Configuration

​Troubleshooting

​Authentication Fails

​Repository Not Found

​Push Rejected

​Clone Fails (Directory Not Empty)

​Git Not Installed

​Viewing Digests on GitHub

​Web Interface

​Commit History

​Clone Locally

​Advanced: Multiple Bots

​Option 1: Different Repositories

​Option 2: Different Branches

​Option 3: Subdirectories

​Best Practices

​Integration with Other Tools

​Obsidian

​Notion

​Slack/Email Notifications

​Disabling GitHub Integration

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Prerequisites

Configuration

How It Works

First Run: Repository Clone

Subsequent Runs: Pull Latest Changes

Commit and Push: Saving Digests

Repository Structure

Example Digest File

Git Configuration

Troubleshooting

Authentication Fails

Repository Not Found

Push Rejected

Clone Fails (Directory Not Empty)

Git Not Installed

Viewing Digests on GitHub

Web Interface

Commit History

Clone Locally

Advanced: Multiple Bots

Option 1: Different Repositories

Option 2: Different Branches

Option 3: Subdirectories

Best Practices

Integration with Other Tools

Obsidian

Notion

Slack/Email Notifications

Disabling GitHub Integration