Collabocate

Collabocate (Collaborate + Communicate) works with the GitHub REST API under the hood to remove the technical hurdles associated with directly interacting with project repositories that reside on the GitHub platform, for non-technical users or contributors to your project (and technical users or contributors alike).

A two-way communication enabler for you and your project users and/or contributors to interact and collaborate on your GitHub project with no borders or barriers.

Your users and contributors can:

• "Kill two (2) birds with one (1) stone (and at the same time)" i.e. They can harness both the "super powers" of your app and that of GitHub at the same time optimally, as though they are dealing with just one app.
• Seemlessly interact with one or more of your GitHub repositories from the comfort of your application's interface, no new/long learning curve required.
• Other information coming soon

How to integrate

Information coming soon. While you wait, you are welcome to contribute to the project.

How to contribute

See our Contributing Guide for general information on how to contribute to Collabo Community projects. Any kind of positively impacting contributions welcome!

Local installation and setup guide for code contributors

Fork the repository, and clone the forked repository unto your local computer - See contributing guide.

Note 1 of 2: There is migration going on for the API server, therefore there are 2 servers. Reason for retaining the old server for now: we still want to be able to run both the old API server and the new one, for comparison, upgrade and collaboration purposes.

Note 2 of 2: See instructions below for whether you wish to run the older API server or the new API server.

Running the server: Old API server

• Change directory (cd) into the root of the collabocate project/repository cloned
• After changing directory:
  • Install Dependencies: npm install
  • Make a copy of the .env.example file, then rename the copy to .env - it is this renamed copy that you will store your secrets in. Ensure that the .env file is in the root of the collabocate project/repository folder.
  • In the .env file, supply:
    • The GitHub API url of your desired/chosen project in the .env file like this:

    GITHUB_API_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/your-own-github-account-user-name-will-be-here-instead/the-name-of-the-repo-you-want-to-interact-with
    

    • A GitHub personal access token for the GitHub account you are trying to access the repo for like this:

    GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=add-your-token-here
    

    • the port number of your choice (for the API server to run on) in the .env file e.g. PORT=4200
  • Start the server: npm start
  • Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:server-port-number-here

Running the server: New API server

• Change directory (cd) into the server folder of in the root of the collabocate project/repository cloned
• After changing directory:
  • Make a copy of the .env.example file, then rename the copy to .env - it is this renamed copy that you will store your secrets in. Ensure that the .env file is in the root of the server folder.
  • In the .env file, supply:
    • the port number of your choice (for the API server to run on) in the .env file e.g. PORT=8080
  • Start the server: npm start
  • Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:server-port-number-here