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Sync GitHub Teams with LinearB

Import GitHub teams into LinearB to automatically sync team structure and membership. Nested teams are supported, and updates propagate automatically.

LinearB allows you to sync GitHub teams directly into LinearB.

Once synced, team membership is automatically kept up to date based on GitHub.

This eliminates manual team management and ensures contributor accuracy.

Overview

When you sync GitHub teams:

  • Selected GitHub teams are created or updated in LinearB
  • Contributors within those teams are automatically synchronized
  • Nested teams can be imported individually or via parent selection
  • Future changes in GitHub automatically propagate to LinearB

Only one GitHub integration and organization can be selected per sync session.

How to Sync GitHub Teams

Navigate to: Settings > Company Settings > Users & Teams > Sync with GitHub

The process consists of three steps.

Step 1 — Select Git Integration and Organization

In the Sync with GitHub (1 of 3) screen:

  1. Select the Git integration (if multiple exist)
  2. Select the GitHub organization containing your teams
  3. Click Next

⚠️ Important:

Only one Git integration and one organization can be selected at a time.
Teams must exist in GitHub prior to syncing.

Step 2 — Select Teams

In Sync with GitHub (2 of 3):

You will see a list of GitHub teams available in the selected organization.

You can:

  • Select individual teams
  • Select a top-level team (parent) to include all nested teams
  • Use the search field to filter teams

Behavior:

  • Selecting a parent team automatically includes its child teams.
  • You can manually deselect specific child teams while keeping the parent selected.
  • New sub-teams created under a selected parent will be included in the next sync cycle, unless you deselect them.
  • Only selected teams are synced

Click Next after selecting your teams.

Step 3 — Review Changes

In Sync with GitHub (3 of 3), you will see a Changes Summary including:

  • Teams being added
  • Teams being removed (sync stopped)
  • Current team count
  • New team count after sync

Example summary elements:

  • Adding: X teams
  • Removing: Y teams
  • Current count: N teams
  • New count: M teams

⚠️ Important

Teams removed from sync will no longer appear in LinearB.
Stopping sync does not affect GitHub — only LinearB visibility.

Click Approve and Save to finalize.

What Happens After Sync?

After approval:

  • LinearB automatically updates team membership based on GitHub.
  • Adding a contributor to a synced GitHub team automatically updates LinearB.
  • Removing a contributor from GitHub removes them from the LinearB team.
  • Creating new nested teams under a selected parent automatically syncs them.

No manual updates in LinearB are required.

Sync Frequency

Team membership synchronization runs as a daily job.

Changes made in GitHub — including:

  • Adding contributors to a team
  • Removing contributors from a team
  • Creating new child teams under a selected parent

may take up to 24 hours to reflect in LinearB.

If changes are not immediately visible, allow one full sync cycle before troubleshooting.

Removing or Modifying Synced Teams

To modify synced teams:

  1. Return to Users & Teams
  2. Click Sync with GitHub
  3. Adjust selected teams
  4. Review the summary
  5. Approve changes

Removing a team from sync:

  • Stops synchronization
  • Removes the team from LinearB
  • Does not delete the GitHub team
Nested GitHub Team Behavior

GitHub teams may contain nested (child) teams.

When selecting teams to sync:

  • Selecting a parent team automatically selects all of its child teams.
  • You can manually deselect specific child teams while keeping the parent team selected.
  • Only the teams that remain selected will be synchronized into LinearB.

If a previously synced team is deselected and approved in the summary step, it will be removed from LinearB.

Nested Team Selection Behavior

If you select a parent GitHub team, all of its child teams are automatically included.

⚠️ Important

This ensure that team hierarchy integrity is preserved during synchronization.
Data Freshness

The team list reflects GitHub data and may show a “Data updated X minutes ago” indicator.

You can refresh the data before selecting teams to ensure accuracy.

Limitations
  • Only GitHub teams (not arbitrary user groups) are supported.
  • Only one GitHub organization can be selected per sync.
  • Teams must exist in GitHub before syncing.
  • Team membership updates are not real-time and may take up to 24 hours to sync.
  • Sync affects team structure and membership — not repository permissions.
Best Practices
  • Use parent team selection when your org structure is stable.
  • Use individual team selection for granular control.
  • Align GitHub teams with engineering reporting structure.
  • Periodically review the sync summary before approving changes.

How did we do?

Integration Guide - GitLab (Cloud + Self-Managed)

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