Keep your customer data safe

Every tool you add to your stack is another place where your customers’ data lives, another vendor to vet, and another entry in your privacy policy. OctoDesk is designed to add as little to that list as possible.

GitHub is the system of record

The conversation with your customer is stored where your code already is: in your GitHub repository, protected by the access controls, two-factor authentication, and audit logs you already rely on. OctoDesk does not keep its own copy of your conversations.

We store the minimum

To deliver your replies, OctoDesk needs to remember which issue belongs to which email address. That routing information is essentially all we keep: the issue reference, your customer’s address, and the identifiers needed to thread emails correctly. Message contents pass through on their way to GitHub and are not retained beyond what reliable delivery requires.

Use a private repository

We recommend a private repository for support. Your customers’ names, addresses, and messages are then visible only to the people you have given access on GitHub. Removing someone from the repository removes their access to support data at the same moment. There is no second user list to keep in sync.

Small permissions

OctoDesk connects as a GitHub App that you install only on the repositories you select. It works with issues. It does not ask for access to your code, and it never sees the repositories you did not select.

Internal stays internal

Comments on a support issue are internal unless you explicitly mark them as a reply. If OctoDesk is ever unsure whether a comment was meant for your customer, it does not send it and tells you so on the issue.