Connecting your code

YouGrow reads your product's code to learn how it works — where people sign up, what getting started means, which numbers it can report about each user — so setting up lifecycle email takes minutes, not a project. Access is read-only, limited to the repositories you choose, and you can remove it at any time.

What YouGrow can and can't do

Field	Type	Notes
Can		Read the code in the repositories you choose, when you ask it to learn from them.
Can't		Change anything: no pushing code, no pull requests, issues, comments or settings. GitHub enforces this — the app is only granted read access.
Can't		See any repository you haven't chosen.
Keeps		A short list of findings, each with a few lines of code as evidence. Secrets and keys are removed before anything is read or stored. The copy of your code is deleted as soon as the analysis finishes.
Tokens		We store no password or long-lived token for GitHub. Each analysis uses a read-only access token that expires within an hour.

Connect GitHub (about a minute)

In YouGrow, open Products → your product → Learn from repo and press Connect GitHub (or use Account → Connections).
GitHub shows the YouGrow app (github.com/apps/yougrowapp) asking for read access to code and metadata — nothing else.
Choose where to install it: your personal account, or the organisation that owns your product's code.
Under Repository access, pick Only select repositories and choose your product's repos — for example your web app and your backend. (You can change this later.)
Press Install. You're returned to YouGrow, where your repositories are listed — tick them and press Learn from repo.

If your organisation needs approval

Only an organisation owner can install apps on an organisation. If you're a member, GitHub shows Request instead of Install — press it, and YouGrow tells you the request is on its way. Your owners get a notification from GitHub; once one approves it (Organisation settings → GitHub Apps → Pending requests), press Connect GitHub again in YouGrow to finish.

Here's a message you can send them:

For your GitHub organisation owner

Hi — we're setting up YouGrow for lifecycle email. It needs READ-ONLY access
to our product's code so it can learn our sign-up and onboarding steps.

Please approve the "YouGrow" GitHub app request (https://github.com/apps/yougrowapp).
It asks only for read access to code and metadata, and only for the
repositories we choose — it can't push, open pull requests or change settings.
Details: https://yougrow.ai/developers/connect-your-code

Change which repositories YouGrow can read

In YouGrow, use Add or remove repositories on GitHub (on Learn from repo, or Account → Connections). That opens GitHub's page for the app — choose Configure, change Repository access, and save. The change applies immediately; YouGrow's list refreshes when you come back.

Disconnect

In YouGrow, Account → Connections → Disconnect removes the connection on our side.
To remove the app from GitHub entirely: Settings → Applications → Installed GitHub Apps → YouGrow → Uninstall (for an organisation, Organisation settings → GitHub Apps). YouGrow can no longer read anything from that moment.

Connect GitLab

In YouGrow, open Account → Connections and press Connect next to GitLab.
GitLab asks you to authorise YouGrow with read_repository and read_user — both read-only. YouGrow can't push or change anything.
Back in YouGrow, on Learn from repo, add your project by its address. Only the projects you add are ever read.

GitLab access follows your own project permissions, so there's no separate group approval.

Public repositories

Nothing to connect: on Learn from repo, choose Add a repository by address and paste it (for example github.com/your-org/your-app).

Questions

Why an app, not a token?

A GitHub App is the only way GitHub lets you grant read-only access to chosen repositories, and it shows your organisation exactly what's granted. Personal access tokens and older OAuth apps can't be limited that way.

Something isn't in the list

The list shows exactly the repositories the app was granted. Add the missing one with Add or remove repositories on GitHub.

Learning from your code is always a proposal: you review each finding — with the code it came from — and choose what YouGrow keeps. Nothing changes until you do.