Github Watch Started Notification to Slack & Email

Use the Github integration by MagicBell to setup a workflow when watch triggers in Github.

Connect Github to MagicBell to receive events and trigger workflows. This guide uses the MagicBell CLI.

Add the Github integration

Save your Github webhook signing secret in MagicBell. See GitHub webhooks.

magicbell integration save_github \
  --data '{"webhook_signing_secret":"your_secret_here"}'

Copy the ID from the response and use it to build your webhook URL:

https://api.magicbell.com/v2/integrations/github/webhooks/incoming/{id}

Setup the webhook

Setup a webhook in Github with the URL from the last step.
Select the watch event.
If you already have a webhook configured, make sure it includes this event.

Add a workflow

Create a workflow that triggers automatically when Github sends this event.

Workflow key

Use this key to trigger the workflow when Github sends a watch event:

integration.github.watch

Filter by action: GitHub sends the event type in the header and the action in the payload body. Use an if condition to filter for the started action:

"if": "payload.action == 'started'"

Example workflow

Track when users start watching your repository.

{
  "key": "integration.github.watch.started",
  "steps": [
    {
      "command": "broadcast",
      "input": {
        "action_url": "{{payload.sender.html_url}}",
        "content": "{{payload.sender.login}} is now watching {{payload.repository.full_name}}. Total watchers: {{payload.repository.watchers_count}}.",
        "overrides": {
          "providers": {
            "slack": {}
          }
        },
        "recipients": [
          {
            "external_id": "maintainers"
          }
        ],
        "title": "New watcher on {{payload.repository.name}}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Save with the CLI

Use the MagicBell CLI to save this workflow to your project. You can also use the Workflows API endpoint instead.

magicbell workflow save \
  --data '{"key":"integration.github.watch.started","steps":[{"command":"broadcast","input":{"action_url":"{{payload.sender.html_url}}","content":"{{payload.sender.login}} is now watching {{payload.repository.full_name}}. Total watchers: {{payload.repository.watchers_count}}.","overrides":{"providers":{"slack":{}}},"recipients":[{"external_id":"maintainers"}],"title":"New watcher on {{payload.repository.name}}"}}]}'

Event payload

Sample payload for the watch event. Use liquid templates to access fields in your workflow.

{
  "action": "started",
  "organization": {
    "avatar_url": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/111111",
    "description": "Building great software",
    "id": 111111,
    "login": "acme"
  },
  "repository": {
    "default_branch": "main",
    "description": "A powerful open-source project",
    "fork": false,
    "forks_count": 250,
    "full_name": "acme/project",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/acme/project",
    "id": 987654321,
    "name": "project",
    "node_id": "MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnk5ODc2NTQzMjE=",
    "owner": {
      "avatar_url": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/111111",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/acme",
      "id": 111111,
      "login": "acme",
      "type": "Organization"
    },
    "private": false,
    "stargazers_count": 1500,
    "visibility": "public",
    "watchers_count": 350
  },
  "sender": {
    "avatar_url": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/890123",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/new-watcher",
    "id": 890123,
    "login": "new-watcher",
    "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjg5MDEyMw==",
    "type": "User"
  }
}

View all Github workflows →