n8n has two built-in GitHub nodes: the GitHub node, which works with files, issues, pull requests, releases, repositories, reviews, users and workflows, and the GitHub Trigger, which starts a workflow on GitHub events such as a push, a new issue or a release. Community nodes add things the built-in nodes don’t cover, such as organization and team management, GitHub App tokens, GitHub Copilot models and GitHub data scrapers. This guide covers the built-in nodes and their credential (from n8n’s documentation) and the GitHub community packages on our hub (from the descriptions and READMEs their authors publish on npm, and our own download data).
Quick comparison
| Built-in GitHub nodes | GitHub community nodes | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Files, issues, pull requests, releases, repositories, reviews, users, workflows, plus a trigger for GitHub events | Organization teams and projects, GitHub App installation tokens, GitHub Copilot models, scraped GitHub data |
| Credential | GitHub API access token or OAuth2 | Depends on the package: GitHub token, GitHub App, Copilot subscription or an Apify account |
| Comes with n8n | Yes | No, installed as a community package |
| n8n Cloud | Available | Only packages that n8n has verified |
What the built-in GitHub node can do
- File: Create, Delete, Edit, Get, List
- Issue: Create, Create Comment, Edit, Get, Lock
- Organization: Get Repositories
- Pull Request: Close, Create, Create Comment, Edit Comment, Get, Get Diff, Get Patch, Merge, Reopen, Update
- Release: Create, Delete, Get, Get Many, Update
- Repository: Get, Get Issues, Get License, Get Profile, Get Pull Requests, List Popular Paths, List Referrers
- Review: Create, Get, Get Many, Update
- User: Get Repositories, Invite
- Workflow: Disable, Dispatch, Enable, Get, Get Usage, List
The GitHub Trigger
The GitHub Trigger starts a workflow when a GitHub event happens. n8n’s documentation lists 41 events, among them Push, Pull request, Pull request review, Issue comment, Release, Star, Fork, Check run, Deployment, Deployment status, Repository vulnerability alert and Security advisory. It uses the same GitHub credential as the GitHub node.
Set up the GitHub credential
The GitHub credential supports two methods: an API access token, which works with every GitHub node, and OAuth2, which works with the GitHub and GitHub Trigger nodes. For an access token:
- In GitHub, open Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens > Tokens (classic) and select Generate new token (classic). n8n recommends the classic token type, because GitHub’s fine-grained tokens have some limitations.
- Give the token a name and an expiration, and select its Scopes. For most of the n8n GitHub nodes, add the
reposcope. A token without scopes can only access public information. - In n8n, leave the GitHub server URL as it is, unless you use GitHub Enterprise Server: then enter your server’s URL.
- Enter your GitHub User name and the Access Token.
For OAuth2 on a self-hosted instance, create a GitHub OAuth app under Developer settings > OAuth apps, paste n8n’s OAuth Redirect URL into the GitHub Authorization callback URL, and copy the Client ID and Client Secret into your n8n credential.
n8n’s AI nodes also had a GitHub Document Loader for loading a repository into a vector store. n8n’s documentation marks it as deprecated from n8n 1.122.0.
GitHub community nodes
Our GitHub hub lists 10 packages that pass our quality rule, with 88 npm downloads a week between them, far fewer than other hubs because the built-in nodes cover most GitHub work. With the description each author gives on npm (weekly npm downloads as of 27 October 2026):
| Package | Weekly downloads | Author’s description |
|---|---|---|
| n8n-nodes-github-copilot-agent-tool | 44 | GitHub Copilot nodes with AI Agent Tool support, using your Copilot subscription |
| n8n-nodes-github-copilot-models | 14 | GitHub Copilot chat model and embeddings integration |
| n8n-nodes-github-copilot-proxy | 12 | Node for a GitHub Copilot Proxy API |
| n8n-nodes-github-session-manager | 7 | Manage GitHub App session tokens and optionally update a githubApi credential |
| n8n-nodes-apivault-github | 5 | GitHub Profile Scraper (Apify Actor) |
| @deepankarb/n8n-nodes-github-lite | 4 | Read repositories, users and issues from the GitHub API, and open new issues |
| n8n-nodes-github-org-helper | 2 | GitHub Organization management tasks |
| n8n-nodes-github-scraper | 0 | Repositories and user profiles from GitHub’s public API (Apify Actor) |
| n8n-nodes-github-profile-email-enricher | 0 | GitHub users, orgs or repos turned into developer leads (Apify Actor) |
| n8n-nodes-github-advisories-scraper | 0 | GitHub Advisory Database (GHSA) security advisories (Apify Actor) |
Organizations, teams and GitHub Apps
n8n-nodes-github-org-helper creates teams (with Secret or Closed privacy), creates organization projects (GitHub Projects V2), including projects assigned to a team, and adds members to teams as Member or Maintainer. Its README lists two ways to sign in: a classic personal access token with the repo, admin:org and project scopes, or a GitHub App, which it recommends. n8n-nodes-github-session-manager takes a GitHub App’s App ID, Installation ID and private key, issues an installation access token and outputs it with its expiration. It can also update one githubApi credential by ID, if your n8n version supports that through its API.
GitHub Copilot models
Three packages are about GitHub Copilot rather than the GitHub API. n8n-nodes-github-copilot-agent-tool and n8n-nodes-github-copilot-models both need an active GitHub Copilot subscription and let n8n’s AI nodes use the chat models it gives access to; the second also adds an embeddings node through the GitHub Models API. n8n-nodes-github-copilot-proxy talks to a separate Copilot Proxy API with its own API key, not to GitHub directly.
GitHub data through Apify
n8n-nodes-apivault-github, n8n-nodes-github-scraper, n8n-nodes-github-profile-email-enricher and n8n-nodes-github-advisories-scraper each run a hosted Apify Actor and return its results to n8n. You need your own Apify account, and Apify charges for the runs.
@deepankarb/n8n-nodes-github-lite covers four calls (get a repository, list its issues, create an issue, get a user), all of which the built-in node also has.
Check each node page here for the latest release and, where it has one, its GitHub repository for open issues before you build on a package.
How to choose
- Files, issues, pull requests, releases, reviews or workflows: the built-in GitHub node.
- Run a workflow when something happens on GitHub: the built-in GitHub Trigger.
- Teams, organization projects and team members: n8n-nodes-github-org-helper.
- Short-lived GitHub App tokens for other nodes: n8n-nodes-github-session-manager.
- Copilot models in an AI Agent: one of the GitHub Copilot packages.
- GitHub API endpoints none of them covers: the HTTP Request node with GitHub’s API documentation.
To install a package on a self-hosted instance, an owner or admin enters its npm name in Settings > Community Nodes; full steps are in How to Install n8n Community Nodes. On n8n Cloud only verified community nodes can be installed, see Verified vs Unverified n8n Community Nodes. A similar guide: Zoho and n8n.
FAQ
Does n8n have a GitHub node?
Yes, two: the GitHub node for actions on files, issues, pull requests, releases, repositories, reviews, users and workflows, and the GitHub Trigger for starting workflows on GitHub events.
Which token scopes does the n8n GitHub credential need?
n8n’s documentation says to add the repo scope for most of the GitHub nodes, and recommends a classic personal access token over a fine-grained one.
Does the GitHub node work with GitHub Enterprise Server?
Yes. In the GitHub credential, change the GitHub server URL to your Enterprise Server’s URL.
Can n8n create GitHub teams?
Not with the built-in node. The community package n8n-nodes-github-org-helper creates teams, organization projects and team memberships.
What is the most used GitHub community node?
n8n-nodes-github-copilot-agent-tool, with 44 weekly npm downloads on 27 October 2026. It is a GitHub Copilot package; the most used one for GitHub itself is n8n-nodes-github-session-manager, with 7.