Never work with multiple systems again

Most teams that build software end up with two inboxes: the issue tracker, where the work happens, and a helpdesk or shared mailbox, where customers talk to them. Keeping the two in sync is nobody’s job, so it does not happen.

OctoDesk removes the second inbox. Every message sent through your contact form or to your support address becomes an ordinary GitHub issue in the repository you choose.

Support requests are just issues

Because a request is a real issue, everything you already do with issues works for support as well:

• Assign a request to whoever knows the answer.
• Label it as billing, bug, or urgent, and filter your views accordingly.
• Mention a colleague to pull them into the discussion.
• Link the request to the bug it reports. When the fix ships, you know exactly whom to tell.
• Track it on your project boards and automate triage with GitHub Actions.
• Answer from the GitHub mobile app while you are on the road.

Talk to your team, then talk to your customer

Comments on a support issue are internal by default. Discuss root causes, paste stack traces, disagree with each other. None of it reaches your customer.

When you are ready to answer, start a comment with /reply:

/reply

Hi Anna, thanks for the report! We just shipped a fix, so the export
should work again. Let us know if you still run into trouble.

OctoDesk sends that comment, and only that comment, to your customer as a regular email. When they answer, their reply shows up as a new comment on the same issue.

Your customers never see GitHub

The people writing to you do not need a GitHub account and will never learn that one is involved. From their point of view they filled out a form and received a friendly email from your support address.