Add a private GitHub Cloud repository in Cloud Manager

Last update: June 11, 2025
  • Applies to:
  • Experience Manager as a Cloud Service

CREATED FOR:

  • Admin
  • Developer

By setting up Cloud Manager to integrate with your private GitHub Cloud (repositories hosted on github.com), you can validate your code directly within GitHub using Cloud Manager. This configuration removes the requirement to sync your code regularly with the Adobe repository.

NOTE
You can also add the following repository types with webhooks:
  • GitHub Enterprise Server (self-hosted version of GitHub) repositories
  • GitLab (both gitlab.com and self-hosted versions of GitLab) repositories
  • Bitbucket (both bitbucket.org and Bitbucket Server, the self-hosted version of BitBucket) repositories

Configuration

Configuration of a private GitHub Cloud repository in Cloud Manager consists of two steps:

Add a private GitHub Cloud repository to a program

  1. Log into Cloud Manager at my.cloudmanager.adobe.com and select the appropriate organization.

  2. On the My Programs console, select the program to which you want to link a private Git repository.

  3. In the side menu, under Services, select Folder icon Repositories.

    The Repositories page

  4. Near the upper-right corner of the Repositories page, click Add Repository.

  5. In the Add Repository dialog box, select Private Repository as the repository type.

    Add own repository

  6. In each respective field, provide the following details about your repository:

    FieldDescription
    Repository NameAn expressive name for your new repository.
    Repository URLThe URL of the private repository, which must end in .git.
    For example, https://github.com/org-name/repo-name.git (URL path is for illustration purposes only).
    Description (optional)A detailed description of the repository.

  7. Select Save.
    Now, you can validate ownership of the private repository.

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For details about managing repositories in Cloud Manager, see Cloud Manager Repositories.

Validate ownership of a private GitHub repository

Cloud Manager now knows about your GitHub repository, but it still needs access to it. To grant access, you need to install the Adobe GitHub app and verify that you own the specified repository.

To validate ownership of a private GitHub repository:

  1. After adding your own repository, follow the remaining steps in the Private Repository Ownership Validation dialog box.

    Private Repository Ownership Validation

    Description
    Step 1: GitHub AppCloud Manager uses a GitHub app to interact with your private repository securely.
    • An owner of your GitHub organization must install the app located at https://github.com/apps/cloud-manager-for-aem and grant access to the repository.
    • For details on installing and granting access is done, see GitHub’s documentation.
    Step 2: Secret FileTo enhance security, you must create a secret file in the default branch of your repository.
    • Click Generate, then click Confirm. Cloud Manager generates the content of the private file in the Secret file content text field.
    • Click Copy icon to copy the content from that field. The contents of the secret file is only shown once. If you do not copy the content before closing this dialog box, regenerate the secret.

  2. Create a new file in the default branch of your GitHub repo called:

    .well-known/adobe/cloud-manager-challenge

  3. Paste the secret file content into the new file you just created, and save.

    Once the app is installed and the secret file exists in the repository, continue the step.

  4. In the Private Repository Ownership Validation dialog box, click Validate.

The app can be installed and a secret file can be created in any order. However, both steps must be completed before you can validate.

Until validation, the repository is listed with a red icon, indicating that it is not yet validated and cannot yet be used.

Unvalidated repo

The Type column in the table on the Repositories page identifies Adobe-provided repositories (Adobe) and your own private repositories (GitHub).

If you need to return to the repository later to complete the validation, on the Repositories page, click More icon in the row representing the GitHub repository you just added. In the drop-down list, select Ownership Validation.

Use private GitHub Cloud repositories with Cloud Manager

After the GitHub repository is validated in Cloud Manager, the integration is complete. You can use the repository with Cloud Manager.

To use private GitHub Cloud repositories with Cloud Manager:

  1. When you create a pull request, a GitHub check starts automatically.

    GitHub checks

  2. For each pull request, a full stack code quality pipeline is created automatically. This pipeline is started at each pull request update.

  3. The GitHub check remains in a running state until the code quality check is complete. The code quality results are then propagated to the GitHub check.

    GitHub code quality checks

When the pull request is merged or closed, the full stack code quality pipeline created is automatically deleted.

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See GitHub Check Annotations for details on the information provided by way of GitHub when pull request checks are run.
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You can control the pipelines that are created automatically to validate each pull request to a private repository. See GitHub Check Configuration for Private Repositories for more information.

Associate private GitHub Cloud repositories with pipelines

Validated private repositories can be associated with full-stack and frontend pipelines.

Usage notes

  • Web tier and config pipelines are not supported with private repositories.
  • No Git tag is created and pushed when using private repositories on production full stack pipelines.
  • If the Adobe GitHub app is removed from your GitHub organization, it removes the pull requests validation feature for all repositories.
  • Pipelines using private GitHub Cloud repositories and the “on-commit” build trigger are not started automatically when a new commit is pushed into the selected branch.
  • Artifact reuse functionality does not apply to private repositories.
  • You cannot pause the pull request validation using the GitHub check from Cloud Manager.
    If the GitHub repository is validated in Cloud Manager, Cloud Manager always tries to validate the pull requests created for that repository.

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