GitHub access

Limn reaches GitHub with the GitHub CLI (gh) sign-in you already have. It asks gh for your token when it needs one, holds it in memory for a few minutes, and never writes it to disk. So Limn can see and do exactly what you can, and no more. This page explains what that means and how Limn keeps the token out of harm’s way.

#Sign in

1. Install the GitHub CLI from cli.github.com.
2. Run gh auth login and follow the prompts.
3. Start Limn. If gh is missing or not signed in, Limn stops at once with GitHub CLI not found or not authenticated.

To use a different GitHub account, sign gh in to it and restart Limn. To stop Limn reaching GitHub at all, run gh auth logout.

#What Limn reads

Limn reads the repositories you add: pull requests, reviews, comments, threads, commits, checks and the default branch’s status. It reads other repositories only when you add them. When an AI run or the conflict resolver needs code, Limn keeps its own copy of the repository in ~/.limn. It never uses or changes your own clones.

#What Limn writes

Limn writes to GitHub only as you, with your token, and only when you press a button, except for the automatic switches you turn on yourself:

• When you press: replies, comments, reviews and approvals; resolving threads; merging; updating a branch; pushing an AI Fix, a resolved conflict or an Implement branch.
• Only if you switch it on: posting auto reviews, auto merge (“merge when ready”), dependency automation, pushing auto fixes, and resolving Limn’s own threads once fixed.

Every comment Limn posts carries a hidden marker, so Limn can always tell its own posts from yours. When teammates run Limn, small limn/ status lines on a commit say who is handling it; they are not CI.

#How the token is kept safe

Never on disk

The token is not stored in Limn’s database or settings. When Limn copies a repository, it passes the token to git for that one command only; it is never saved in the copy’s settings.

Never in the browser

The app in your browser never receives your token. Links that GitHub signs for a short time, such as CI log downloads, are read by Limn and never handed to the browser.

Never in the sandbox

AI Fix and Implement run the AI in a sandbox that holds no GitHub credentials at all. Their work leaves as a patch, and Limn pushes it with your token on your press. See AI agents and the sandbox.

Never in logs

Limn removes sign-in headers from everything it writes to its log.