Configuring GitHub Commit Authorship

When changes are saved in TinaCMS, they are committed to your project's GitHub repository. By default, these commits are authored by our tina-cloud-app, which can make it difficult to track who made specific changes within a team.

Figure: Without authorship settings, it's unclear who made the change.

To solve this, TinaCMS provides two distinct methods for attributing your work: Act as You (the recommended approach) or Co-authoring.

Authoring Options at a Glance

You can choose between two levels of GitHub integration:

1. Act as You (Recommended): The most seamless and accurate method. TinaCMS will perform all Git actions using your personal GitHub identity after you grant authorization.
2. Co-authoring: A simpler, manual option. The tina-cloud-app will still make the commit, but it will add your name and email as a co-author, attributing the change to you in the commit message.

Option 1: Act as You (Full GitHub Authoring)

This method provides perfect attribution by using your GitHub account to perform all actions. Commits, branches, and pull requests will appear in your repository's history exactly as if you had made them from your own computer.

Figure: The commit and PR is created by the user, not the bot.

How Permissions Are Secured 🔐

An action is only allowed if both your personal user account and the bot have the required permissions.

• The Application's Permissions: Our bot is granted a specific set of permissions to interact with your repository:
  • Code (Read & Write)
  • Pull Requests (Read & Write)
  • Repository Hooks (Read & Write)
  • Metadata (Read-only)
• Your Personal Permissions: For every action, GitHub also checks if your personal account has the right to perform that action.

You can find more information in the Authenticating with a GitHub App on behalf of a user docs

Fallback Behavior

If you initiate an action that your personal GitHub account does not have permission for, the action will automatically fall back to being performed by the bot's identity.

How to Enable "Act as You"

1. Navigate to your Account Settings in TinaCloud.
2. Find the GitHub Authoring section.
3. Use the toggle to select the "Act as [Your Name]" option.
4. You will be redirected to GitHub to authorize the application. Follow the on-screen instructions to grant permission.

Figure: Toggle the setting via the GitHub Authoring profile settings.

Option 2: Co-authoring

If you prefer not to grant the application permission to act on your behalf, co-authoring provides a lighter-weight way to get attribution.

With this option, the tina-cloud-app still performs all Git actions, but it adds a Co-authored-by: trailer to the end of each commit message, crediting you for the work.

Figure: With co-authorship configured, contributions are attributed with the bot.

How to Enable Co-authoring

1. Navigate to your Account Settings in TinaCloud.
2. Find the GitHub Authoring section.
3. Select the "Co-authoring" option.
4. Fill out your Git Co-author Name and Email. By default, these are pre-filled from your TinaCloud account.
5. Save your settings.

Figure: Co-author details are manually entered via the Git Co-authoring profile settings.

Note on Email Privacy: The co-author email is publicly viewable on GitHub. If you wish to keep your email private, GitHub provides a noreply email address you can use. You can find this in your GitHub email settings.

Quick Comparison