# GitHub Permissions Overview

URL: https://docs.testvibe.com/reference/github-permissions-overview

GitHub is optional. Your tests, generated files, configurations, run history, and evidence all live in TestVibe's cloud — **no GitHub permissions are needed to use TestVibe.**

GitHub can appear in exactly three places, each opt-in:

## Where GitHub Can Appear

| Touchpoint | What it is | What access is requested | GitHub sign-in | One of the sign-in options, alongside email/password and Google. | Identity only. TestVibe never asks for repository permissions at sign-in. | App Repository | An optional, read-only repository on a project ( **Settings → App Repository** ) so the assistant can read your app's code for context and coverage can map against it. | Read access to that repository's code. | Test Files Sync | An optional two-way mirror ( **Settings → Test Files Sync** ) of the project's own test files — features, specs, Playwright configs — to a repository you own. TestVibe's cloud stays canonical. | Write scopes are requested only when you enable sync — never before. 

## What This Means In Practice

- You can create projects, generate tests, and run them without ever connecting GitHub.
- Signing in with GitHub does not give TestVibe access to your repositories.
- Secrets and variables live in Settings → Variables & Secrets, not in GitHub.
- Enabling Test Files Sync later does not change where your project lives — TestVibe's cloud stays canonical; the mirror is two-way, so edits committed to the repository flow back into the project.

## Who Can Change Access

| Access type | Usually managed by | Your GitHub sign-in connection | You, from your GitHub account settings. | App Repository / Test Files Sync authorization | Whoever owns the repository — an organization owner or repository admin for org-owned repos. 

## Troubleshooting Access

- [Sign-in problems](/troubleshooting/sign-in-problems)
- [GitHub connection issues](/troubleshooting/github-app-permissions)