Frequently Asked Questions

Gitify supports notifications from the following Git forges:

• GitHub Cloud — github.com
• GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES) — self-hosted GitHub instances
• GitHub Enterprise Cloud (Data Residency) — [tenant].ghe.com
• Gitea — including self-hosted instances
• Forgejo — compatible with the Gitea authentication flow
• Codeberg — powered by Forgejo, fully supported
• Bitbucket Cloud — bitbucket.org

Multiple accounts across different forges can be signed in simultaneously. See How do I add multiple accounts? for details.

For authentication setup, see What authentication methods does Gitify support?.

Authentication methods vary by forge:

GitHub Cloud & GitHub Enterprise Server

• Login with GitHub — The easiest option. Uses the OAuth Device Flow: Gitify generates a code, opens github.com/login/device in your browser, and completes authentication automatically. Supports GitHub Cloud only.
• Personal Access Token (PAT) — Authenticate with a token generated in your GitHub account settings. Supports both GitHub Cloud and GitHub Enterprise Server.
• OAuth App — Authenticate using a Client ID and Client Secret from a GitHub OAuth App you create. Supports both GitHub Cloud and GitHub Enterprise Server.

If you are unsure which method to use, Login with GitHub is recommended for most users on GitHub Cloud. For GitHub Enterprise Server, use a PAT or OAuth App.

Gitea, Forgejo & Codeberg

• Personal Access Token (PAT) — Generate a token in your Gitea/Forgejo/Codeberg account under Settings → Applications, then enter it in Gitify along with your instance hostname (e.g. codeberg.org or your self-hosted URL).

Bitbucket Cloud

• Personal Access Token (PAT) — Generate an app password in your Bitbucket account under Personal settings → App passwords and use it as your token in Gitify.

Note: OAuth App authentication is available for GitHub Cloud and GitHub Enterprise Server only. For Gitea, Forgejo, Codeberg, and Bitbucket Cloud, use a Personal Access Token.

To authenticate via an OAuth App with GitHub:

• Open GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → OAuth Apps
• Click New OAuth App
• Set Authorization callback URL to gitify://oauth
• Complete all remaining mandatory fields
• Click Register application
• Click Generate a new client secret
• Use this client/secret pair within Gitify to authenticate.

Yes. Gitify supports GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES) and GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Data Residency alongside GitHub Cloud.

Note: This entry covers GitHub-specific setup. If you are using Gitea, Forgejo, Codeberg, or Bitbucket Cloud, see Which Git forges does Gitify support? and What authentication methods does Gitify support?.

When signing in via Personal Access Token or OAuth App, you will see a Hostname field that defaults to github.com. Replace this with your instance hostname to connect:

• GitHub Enterprise Server: your self-hosted hostname, e.g. github.mycompany.com
• GitHub Enterprise Cloud (Data Residency): your tenant hostname, e.g. myorg.ghe.com

Note: The Login with GitHub (Device Flow) method only supports GitHub Cloud (github.com) and does not expose a hostname field.

Multiple accounts across different hostnames (e.g. github.com and your GHES instance) can be signed in simultaneously — see How do I add multiple accounts? for details.

Gitify supports signing in to multiple accounts simultaneously — for example, a personal GitHub Cloud account alongside a Gitea or Bitbucket Cloud account.

To add an account:

• Open the Accounts screen from the Gitify sidebar
• Click Add new account and choose your forge and preferred authentication method
• Complete the sign-in flow for the additional account

All signed-in accounts will appear on the Accounts screen. You can designate a primary account by clicking the star icon next to an account — the primary account is used as the default where applicable.

Each account can be individually refreshed or signed out at any time.

For a full list of supported forges, see Which Git forges does Gitify support?.

Gitify can be configured to start automatically when you log in to your computer.

To enable this:

• Open Settings in Gitify
• Navigate to the System section
• Toggle Open at startup

Note: This setting is available on macOS and Windows only. On Linux, startup behaviour is managed by your desktop environment or init system.

Note: This entry covers GitHub Cloud and GitHub Enterprise Server only. Gitea, Forgejo, Codeberg, and Bitbucket Cloud use standard read access tokens — see What authentication methods does Gitify support?.

The required GitHub scopes depend on your chosen authentication method.

Login with GitHub (Device Flow) and OAuth App:

Scopes are pre-configured by Gitify and requested automatically during sign-in. No manual scope selection is required.

Personal Access Token (PAT):

When generating a PAT, the following scopes are required:

• notifications — to read GitHub notifications
• read:user — to read your GitHub user details (name, profile, avatar)
• repo — to enrich notification details for public and private repositories

Note: If you only need access to public repositories, you can use public_repo instead of repo.

For help generating a PAT, see GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens. If notifications still aren’t appearing after setting up a PAT, see Why aren’t my notifications showing?.

If your GitHub organization enforces SAML single sign-on (SSO), you must explicitly authorize your Personal Access Token to access that organization’s data — including notifications. Without this step, Gitify will not show notifications from repositories in that organization even if your PAT has the correct scopes.

To authorize a PAT for SSO:

• Open GitHub → Settings → Personal access tokens
• Find the token you use with Gitify
• Click Configure SSO next to the token
• Click Authorize next to each SSO-enabled organization you want to grant access
• Complete the SSO authentication flow for each organization

Once authorized, Gitify will be able to fetch notifications from repositories in those organizations. Re-authorization may be required if your SSO session expires or your organization’s SSO configuration changes.

For more details, see the GitHub documentation on authorizing a PAT for use with SSO.

Filters in Gitify help you manage which notifications are shown in the app, allowing you to concentrate on the most crucial ones for your workflow.

Filters can be accessed from the left-hand sidebar. By default, all notifications are shown. You can filter by properties such as notification reason (e.g. Mentioned, Review Requested, Assigned), repository, or account.

If you apply multiple filters, your inbox will display notifications based on a LOGICAL AND condition — for example, selecting Mentioned and a specific repository will only show notifications where both conditions are true.

When you Unsubscribe from Thread, you will not receive future notifications for the thread until you either comment on the thread or get a @mention.

Note: Depending on your notification subscription settings for the repository, you may continue to receive some notifications even after unsubscribing from a specific thread.

Gitify checks for updates automatically on launch and every 24 hours.

When an update is available, it downloads in the background. Once downloaded, a dialog will prompt you to Restart to apply the update or choose Later to apply it the next time Gitify restarts.

You can also trigger a manual check by right-clicking the tray icon and selecting Check for Updates.

GitHub Cloud & GitHub Enterprise Server

Personal Access Token (PAT):

• Open GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens
• Confirm that your PAT has the following recommended permissions: notifications, read:user and repo

Note: If you only want Gitify to access public repositories, you can use notifications, read:user and public_repo instead. See What GitHub scopes does Gitify require? for full details.

Note: If your organization enforces SAML SSO, your PAT must also be explicitly authorized for that organization. See How do I authorize my PAT for a GitHub SSO organization?.

Login with GitHub (Device Flow):

• Some organizations require GitHub Apps to request access prior to allowing access to organization data (including notifications)
• To check if Gitify is approved by your organization:
  • Open GitHub → Settings → Applications → Authorized GitHub Apps
  • Click on the Gitify application
  • Under Organization access, you will see one of three states for each organization:

State	Meaning
✅ Green check	Access granted — notifications from this org will appear
Request button	Access not yet granted — click to ask your org admins to approve
Disallowed by org owner	The organization has blocked third-party GitHub App access entirely — contact your org admin

Note: If an organization shows Request or Disallowed by org owner, you will not receive notifications from that organization until access is approved.

Gitea, Forgejo & Codeberg

• Verify your PAT is valid and has not expired — regenerate it in your account under Settings → Applications if needed
• Confirm the hostname saved in your Gitify account settings exactly matches your instance URL (e.g. codeberg.org or your self-hosted domain)
• Ensure your PAT has sufficient read permissions for notifications and repositories on your instance

Bitbucket Cloud

• Verify your app password is valid and has not been revoked — regenerate it in Personal settings → App passwords if needed
• Ensure your app password grants Read access to: Account, Repositories, and Pull requests

Using Chrome Developer Tools (console logs, network requests, etc):

Right-click the tray icon and select Developer → Toggle Developer Tools, or use the keyboard shortcut for your platform:

• macOS: command + opt + i
• Windows / Linux: ctrl + shift + i

Using Application Log Files:

Right-click the tray icon and select Developer → View Application Logs, or navigate directly to the log directory for your platform:

• macOS: ~/Library/Logs/gitify
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\gitify\logs
• Linux: ~/.config/gitify/logs

If you experience issues opening Gitify on Linux due to Chrome Sandbox permissions, the Electron sandbox requires root ownership and the SUID bit to be set on the sandbox binary. Run the following commands to fix this:

sudo chown root:root /opt/Gitify/chrome-sandbox
sudo chmod 4755 /opt/Gitify/chrome-sandbox

Note: The path /opt/Gitify/chrome-sandbox assumes a standard installation. If you installed Gitify via AppImage or to a custom directory, adjust the path accordingly.

To check for startup errors:

journalctl -xe | grep gitify

You can contribute to Gitify by opening an issue or pull request on GitHub at gitify-app/gitify.

Before contributing, please review our CONTRIBUTING.md guide for details on branch naming, the PR process, and code style.

Check out our open issues and see if there is an existing idea you would like to work on.

Not a developer? You can still help by reporting bugs, improving documentation, or starring and sharing the project.