/invoking-github

Troubleshooting Guide

Common issues and solutions when using the invoking-github skill.

Credential Issues

"No GitHub API token found!"

Symptoms:

• Any operation fails immediately with credential error
• Self-test shows "Token not configured"

Causes:

1. Token not added to Project Knowledge
2. Wrong document title in Project Knowledge
3. api-credentials config.json missing or malformed

Solutions:

Check Project Knowledge:

• Document must be titled exactly GITHUB_API_KEY (all caps, underscores)
• Content should be just the token, no extra text
• No trailing whitespace or line breaks

Check api-credentials:

cat /home/user/claude-skills/api-credentials/config.json

Should contain:

{
  "github_api_key": "ghp_your_token_here"
}

Test credential detection:

import sys
sys.path.append('/home/user/claude-skills/invoking-github/scripts')
from github_client import get_github_token

try:
    token = get_github_token()
    print(f"✓ Token found: {token[:7]}...{token[-4:]}")
except ValueError as e:
    print(e)

"Authentication failed" (401)

Symptoms:

• Token is detected but API calls fail with 401
• "Authentication failed" error message

Causes:

1. Token has expired
2. Token was revoked
3. Token contains typos or extra characters

Solutions:

Check token status on GitHub:

1. Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens
2. Find your token
3. Check if it's expired or revoked

Generate new token:

1. Create new token at https://github.com/settings/tokens
2. Update Project Knowledge or config.json
3. Retry operation

Verify no extra characters:

• Token should start with ghp_ (classic) or github_pat_ (fine-grained)
• No spaces, quotes, or line breaks
• Exact length: 40 characters (classic) or longer (fine-grained)

"Access denied" (403)

Symptoms:

• Authentication works but specific operations fail
• "Access denied" or "insufficient permissions" errors

Causes:

1. Token lacks required permissions
2. Repository is private and token doesn't have access
3. Rate limit exceeded

Solutions:

Check token permissions:

• For fine-grained tokens:
  • Repository access: Verify target repo is in the list
  • Permissions: Contents (read/write), Pull requests (read/write)
• For classic tokens:
  • Scope: Must have repo (or public_repo for public repos only)

Check rate limits:

import sys
sys.path.append('/home/user/claude-skills/invoking-github/scripts')
from github_client import _make_api_request

response = _make_api_request("/rate_limit")
print(f"Remaining: {response['rate']['remaining']}/{response['rate']['limit']}")
print(f"Reset at: {response['rate']['reset']}")

If rate limited:

• Wait until reset time
• Reduce request frequency
• Consider using different token

Repository Issues

"Resource not found" (404)

Symptoms:

• Repository, branch, or file not found
• "404" error message

Causes:

1. Repository name is incorrect
2. Branch doesn't exist
3. File path is wrong
4. Repository is private and token doesn't have access

Solutions:

Verify repository format:

• Correct: username/repo-name or organization/repo-name
• Incorrect: https://github.com/username/repo-name
• Incorrect: username-repo-name
• Incorrect: repo-name (missing owner)

Check branch exists:

import sys
sys.path.append('/home/user/claude-skills/invoking-github/scripts')
from github_client import _make_api_request

# List all branches
response = _make_api_request("/repos/username/repo-name/branches")
branches = [b['name'] for b in response]
print(f"Available branches: {branches}")

Verify file path:

• Use forward slashes: src/main.py not src\main.py
• No leading slash: README.md not /README.md
• Case-sensitive: readme.md ≠ README.md

"Conflict" (409)

Symptoms:

• Commit fails with 409 error
• "Conflict" or "file was modified" message

Causes:

1. File was modified since last read
2. Multiple concurrent commits to same file
3. Branch was force-pushed

Solutions:

Read file again before committing:

from github_client import read_file, commit_file

# Read current version
current = read_file(repo, path, branch)

# Make your changes
new_content = modify(current)

# Commit (will have latest SHA)
commit_file(repo, path, new_content, branch, "Update")

Use unique branches per session:

from datetime import datetime

branch = f"feature-{datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d-%H%M%S')}"
commit_file(repo, path, content, branch, "Update", create_branch_from="main")

Check for concurrent modifications:

• Ensure only one Claude session is modifying the file
• Use session-specific branches
• Coordinate with team members

File Operation Issues

File content is corrupted

Symptoms:

• File appears as binary/garbage after commit
• Encoding errors when reading

Causes:

1. Binary file being treated as text
2. Encoding issues

Solutions:

This skill is for text files only:

• Supports: .txt, .md, .py, .js, .json, .yaml, etc.
• Not supported: Images, PDFs, executables, archives

Ensure UTF-8 encoding:

# Read with explicit encoding
content = Path("file.txt").read_text(encoding='utf-8')

# Commit
commit_file(repo, path, content, branch, "Update")

Large file fails to commit

Symptoms:

• Commit fails for large files
• Timeout errors

Causes:

1. File exceeds GitHub API limits (~100MB)
2. Network timeout

Solutions:

Check file size:

size = len(content.encode('utf-8'))
if size > 100 * 1024 * 1024:  # 100MB
    print(f"File too large: {size / (1024*1024):.1f}MB")

Split large files:

• Break into smaller chunks
• Use Git LFS (not supported by this skill)
• Consider alternative storage

Network Issues

"Network error" or timeouts

Symptoms:

• Operations fail with network errors
• Timeouts during API calls

Causes:

1. No internet connection
2. GitHub API is down
3. Firewall blocking requests

Solutions:

Check internet connection:

curl -I https://api.github.com

Check GitHub status:

• Visit https://www.githubstatus.com
• Check for ongoing incidents

Retry with backoff:

import time

for attempt in range(3):
    try:
        result = commit_file(...)
        break
    except Exception as e:
        if attempt < 2:
            wait = 2 ** attempt
            print(f"Retry in {wait}s...")
            time.sleep(wait)
        else:
            raise

Integration Issues

DEVLOG sync silently fails

Symptoms:

• Local DEVLOG updates but no GitHub commit
• No error messages

Causes:

1. Exception is being caught and suppressed
2. auto_sync is False

Solutions:

Add logging:

try:
    sync_to_github()
except Exception as e:
    print(f"⚠ Sync failed: {e}")
    import traceback
    traceback.print_exc()

Check configuration:

config = get_devlog_config()
print(f"auto_sync: {config.get('auto_sync')}")
print(f"repo: {config.get('repo')}")

Can't import github_client

Symptoms:

• ImportError: No module named github_client
• ModuleNotFoundError

Causes:

1. Path not in sys.path
2. Skill not installed

Solutions:

Add to path explicitly:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, '/home/user/claude-skills/invoking-github/scripts')
from github_client import commit_file

Verify skill exists:

ls -la /home/user/claude-skills/invoking-github/scripts/

Should show:

• github_client.py
• __init__.py

API Behavior Issues

Commit succeeds but file doesn't update

Symptoms:

• Commit returns success
• File on GitHub hasn't changed

Causes:

1. Committing to wrong branch
2. Looking at different branch on GitHub

Solutions:

Verify branch:

result = commit_file(repo, path, content, branch, "Update")
print(f"Committed to branch: {result['branch']}")
print(f"Commit SHA: {result['commit_sha']}")

Check GitHub UI:

• Make sure you're viewing the correct branch
• Click branch dropdown and select your target branch

PR creation fails: "A pull request already exists"

Symptoms:

• PR creation fails with "already exists" error

Causes:

1. PR from head to base already exists
2. Previous PR wasn't closed

Solutions:

List existing PRs:

from github_client import _make_api_request

response = _make_api_request(f"/repos/{repo}/pulls?state=open")
for pr in response:
    print(f"PR #{pr['number']}: {pr['head']['ref']} → {pr['base']['ref']}")

Close or merge existing PR first:

• Go to GitHub and close/merge the existing PR
• Or use a different head branch

Performance Issues

Operations are slow

Symptoms:

• Each commit takes several seconds
• Batch operations take a long time

Causes:

1. Network latency
2. Large files
3. Many files in batch

Solutions:

Use batch operations:

# Slow: Multiple individual commits
for file in files:
    commit_file(repo, file['path'], file['content'], branch, f"Update {file['path']}")

# Fast: Single batch commit
commit_files(repo, files, branch, "Update multiple files")

Minimize requests:

• Don't read file before every commit if you already have content
• Use commit_files() instead of multiple commit_file() calls

Getting Help

If you're still stuck:

1. Check GitHub API status: https://www.githubstatus.com
2. Verify token permissions: https://github.com/settings/tokens
3. Test with GitHub CLI: Try same operation with gh CLI
4. Check GitHub docs: https://docs.github.com/rest

Provide this info when asking for help:

• Error message (full text)
• Operation you're trying to perform
• Repository name (if not sensitive)
• Token type (classic vs fine-grained)
• Whether credential test passes

Common Error Reference

Next Steps

• credential-setup.md - Token configuration guide
• SKILL.md - Main skill documentation
• GitHub API Docs - Official API reference