addteam 0.5.1

One-command collaborator management for GitHub repos with GitOps support.

addteam

One-command collaborator management for GitHub repos with GitOps support.

Quick Start

# From your repo directory
uvx addteam                         # use local team.yaml
uvx addteam owner/repo              # use team.yaml from another repo
uvx addteam -n                      # preview (dry-run)

Prerequisites: GitHub CLI installed and authenticated.

What It Does

1. Reads team config from team.yaml
2. Invites collaborators with role-based permissions
3. Detects drift between config and GitHub
4. Optionally syncs (removes unlisted users)
5. Supports GitOps via GitHub Actions

Setup

First-Time Setup

# Create starter team.yaml
addteam -i

# Also create GitHub Action for GitOps
addteam -i --init-action

This creates:

• team.yaml - your team configuration (commit this!)
• .github/workflows/sync-collaborators.yml - auto-sync on push

team.yaml Format

# Team configuration
default_permission: push

# Role-based groups (permission inferred from role name)
admins:
  - alice

developers:
  - bob
  - charlie

reviewers:
  - eve

# Temporary access with expiry dates (optional)
contractors:
  - username: temp-dev
    permission: push
    expires: 2025-06-01

# GitHub team integration (for orgs)
teams:
  - myorg/backend-team
  - myorg/frontend-team: pull

Supported Roles

Role	Permission
admins	admin
maintainers	maintain
developers, contributors	push
reviewers, readers	pull
triagers	triage

Note: team.yaml should be committed to your repo (not gitignored). It's your source of truth for access control.

Usage

addteam [source] [options]

Where source is either:

• A local file (default: team.yaml)
• A GitHub repo (owner/repo) to fetch team.yaml from

Common Options

Short	Long	Description
-n	--dry-run	Preview without making changes
-s	--sync	Remove collaborators not in list
-a	--audit	Show drift without making changes
-w	--welcome	Create welcome issues for new users
-q	--quiet	Minimal output
-r	--repo OWNER/REPO	Target a different repo

Init Options

Short	Long	Description
-i	--init	Create starter team.yaml
	--init-action	Create GitHub Action workflow
	--init-multi-repo	Create multi-repo sync workflow

Examples

# Setup a new repo
addteam -i --init-action

# Apply team from another repo
addteam myorg/team-config
addteam myorg/team-config -n    # preview first

# Preview what would happen
addteam -n

# Audit mode: see who has access vs who should
addteam -a

# Sync mode: add missing, remove unlisted (preview first!)
addteam -s -n
addteam -s

# Invite with welcome issues
addteam -w

Using a Central Team Config

Maintain a central team.yaml in one repo and apply it anywhere:

cd your-repo
addteam myorg/team-config         # apply team from central repo
addteam myorg/team-config -n      # preview first

This is useful when:

• You have a standard team across multiple repos
• You want a "reference" repo with your org's team members
• You're bootstrapping new repos with existing team access

GitOps Workflow

The recommended approach is to use team.yaml as your source of truth with automatic enforcement via GitHub Actions.

Why GitOps?

• Auditable: All changes go through PRs
• Reviewable: Team leads approve access changes
• Consistent: No drift between config and reality
• Reversible: Git history shows when/why/who

Setup

# In your repo
addteam -i --init-action
git add team.yaml .github/
git commit -m "Add team access management"
git push

GitHub Token Setup

The Action needs a PAT (Personal Access Token) with appropriate scopes:

1. Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens
2. Create a token with:
   • repo scope (for collaborator management)
   • admin:org scope (if using GitHub Teams)
3. Add as repository secret: TEAM_SYNC_TOKEN

Workflow

Developer submits PR to add Alice
    ↓
Team lead reviews and approves
    ↓
PR merged to main
    ↓
GitHub Action runs `addteam --sync`
    ↓
Alice gets access (and welcome issue)

Multi-Repo Management

For organizations managing access across many repos:

# Create multi-repo workflow
addteam --init-multi-repo

This creates:

• team.yaml - shared team configuration
• repos.txt - list of repos to manage
• .github/workflows/sync-team.yml - syncs all repos

Edit repos.txt:

# Repos to sync (one per line)
myorg/frontend
myorg/backend
myorg/docs

Audit Mode

See drift between desired state (config) and actual state (GitHub):

addteam --audit

Output:

  ⚠ drift detected

  Missing (should have access):
    + alice (push)
    + bob (push) from myorg/dev-team

  Extra (should not have access):
    - mallory

  Permission drift:
    ~ charlie: admin → push

  total drift: 3 item(s)

Welcome Issues

When --welcome is enabled, new collaborators automatically get a welcome issue with:

• AI-generated repo summary (if API key set)
• Getting started checklist
• Assignment to the new collaborator

Enable in YAML:

welcome_issue: true

Or via CLI:

addteam -w

Expiring Access

For temporary collaborators (contractors, interns):

contractors:
  - username: temp-dev
    permission: push
    expires: 2025-06-01

• Expired users are skipped during invite
• With --sync, expired users are automatically removed
• Audit mode shows expired access

Note: Expiry is enforced client-side when you run addteam. For automatic enforcement, use the GitOps workflow with scheduled runs.

Installation

One-liner (no install)

uvx addteam --help

Install globally

pip install addteam
addteam --help

From source

git clone https://github.com/michaeljabbour/addteam
cd addteam
pip install -e .

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
OPENAI_API_KEY	For AI-generated welcome messages
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Alternative AI provider
GH_TOKEN	GitHub token (used by gh CLI)

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Your Repo                                              │
│                                                         │
│  team.yaml ──────────────────┐                         │
│  (source of truth)           │                         │
│                              ▼                         │
│  .github/workflows/    ┌──────────┐                    │
│  sync-collaborators.yml│ addteam  │──► GitHub API      │
│  (on push to main)     └──────────┘                    │
│                              │                         │
│                              ▼                         │
│                        Collaborators                   │
│                        synchronized                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

FAQ

Should team.yaml be in .gitignore?

No! It should be committed. It's your source of truth for access control, and you want the Git history.

What if I want different configs for different repos?

Each repo can have its own team.yaml. Or use multi-repo mode with a central config.

Does this work with GitHub Enterprise?

Yes, as long as gh CLI is configured for your enterprise instance.

What permissions does the GitHub token need?

• repo scope for collaborator management
• admin:org if using GitHub Teams integration

License

MIT