Common Errors

Quick reference for common errors and their solutions.

Table of contents
  1. Authentication Errors
    1. “Invalid token” on sign-in
    2. “Sign in with GitHub” button not appearing
    3. “Redirect URI mismatch”
  2. API and Permission Errors
    1. “Not found” or missing repositories
    2. “Insufficient permissions” on workflow operations
  3. Workflow and PR Errors
    1. PR campaign creates no PRs
    2. “Branch already exists” when creating campaign PRs
  4. Next Steps

Authentication Errors

“Invalid token” on sign-in

Symptoms: Signing in with a PAT returns an invalid token error.

Causes:

  • Token was mistyped or contains extra whitespace
  • Token has been revoked in GitHub
  • Token has expired
  • Token type is not recognized

Solutions:

  1. Copy the token directly from GitHub — avoid retyping
  2. Check the token status at GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens
  3. Generate a new token and try again

“Sign in with GitHub” button not appearing

Symptoms: The OAuth login button is missing from the login page.

Causes: GITHUB_CLIENT_ID environment variable is not set or the container was not restarted after adding it.

Solutions:

  1. Verify GITHUB_CLIENT_ID is set in your container environment
  2. Restart the container to apply the new environment variable
  3. Check container logs for OAuth configuration errors

“Redirect URI mismatch”

Symptoms: After authorizing the GitHub OAuth App, GitHub returns a redirect URI mismatch error.

Causes: The REACT_APP_BACKEND_URL environment variable does not match the callback URL registered in your GitHub OAuth App.

Solutions:

  1. Check the Authorization callback URL in your GitHub OAuth App settings
  2. Verify the REACT_APP_BACKEND_URL environment variable matches exactly (including protocol and port)
  3. Update the OAuth App or environment variable so they match

API and Permission Errors

“Not found” or missing repositories

Symptoms: Repositories are not visible or return 404 errors.

Causes:

  • Fine-grained PAT was created with limited repository access
  • The GitHub token does not have access to the repository
  • The repository is in an organization with restricted token access

Solutions:

  1. Check which repositories are authorized on the fine-grained PAT
  2. Verify the signed-in GitHub account has access to the repository
  3. For organization repositories, check if the organization has blocked token access

“Insufficient permissions” on workflow operations

Symptoms: Creating, updating, or deleting workflows fails with a permission error.

Causes: The token is missing required permissions.

Solutions:

  1. For fine-grained PATs, verify Contents: Read and write and Actions: Read and write are set
  2. For classic PATs, verify the repo and workflow scopes are granted
  3. Generate a new token with the correct permissions

Workflow and PR Errors

PR campaign creates no PRs

Symptoms: Starting a PR campaign completes without creating any pull requests.

Causes:

  • No repositories in the project are configured
  • The workflow is already up to date in all repositories
  • The GitHub token lacks Pull requests: Read and write permission

Solutions:

  1. Verify the project has repositories added
  2. Check drift status — if all repositories are in sync, no PRs are needed
  3. Verify the PAT has pull request permissions

“Branch already exists” when creating campaign PRs

Symptoms: PR creation fails because the branch already exists.

Causes: A previous campaign created a branch that was never merged or deleted.

Solutions:

  1. Check the repository on GitHub for open or abandoned campaign branches
  2. Delete the old branch and retry the campaign
  3. Or merge/close the existing PR first

Next Steps