Setting up OctoDesk

There is no software to install, no server to configure, and no team training to schedule. You connect a repository, add a snippet to your website, and keep working the way you already do.

OctoDesk is currently in early access. Get in touch and we will set up your account. From there, these are the steps.

1. Connect your repository

Sign in with your GitHub account and install the OctoDesk GitHub App. During installation, GitHub asks which repositories the app may access. Pick the one that should receive your support requests.

We recommend a private repository, because support issues contain your customers’ names and email addresses. It can be the repository of your product, or a separate one such as your-company/support. A separate repository has the advantage that support issues and development issues can have different watchers.

Every repository you connect becomes an OctoDesk project.

2. Add a form to your website

Paste the widget snippet into your website, just before the closing </body> tag. It adds a help button that opens a complete contact form. Colors, texts, and fields are configured in your OctoDesk dashboard, so you can change them later without touching your website again.

<script async src="https://js.octodesk.net/v1/widget.js"
        data-project="YOUR-PROJECT-KEY"></script>

Prefer your own form? Mark it with your project key and load the forms script instead. Your markup and styling stay exactly as they are.

<form data-octodesk="YOUR-PROJECT-KEY">
  <input name="name" placeholder="Your name" />
  <input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Your email" required />
  <textarea name="message" placeholder="How can we help?" required></textarea>
  <button>Send</button>
</form>
<script async src="https://js.octodesk.net/v1/forms.js"></script>

Both variants run entirely in the browser. They work on static sites, site builders, and any CMS that accepts an HTML snippet.

3. Forward your support email

Every project comes with its own inbound email address. Set up a forwarding rule from your existing address, for example support@your-company.com, and every email sent there becomes an issue as well. Forwarding takes a minute in Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or with a plain mail alias, and does not require any DNS changes.

If you want replies to be sent from your own domain, you can verify it later in the dashboard.

4. Send a test request

Fill out your new form. A moment later, a new issue appears in your repository, created by the OctoDesk bot on behalf of the person who wrote. It carries the support label (you can change that), so requests are easy to tell apart from your other issues.

5. Answer from GitHub

Discuss the request with your team in the issue’s comments. Comments are internal; your customer does not see them.

When you have an answer, write a comment that starts with /reply:

/reply

Hi Anna, thanks for getting in touch! You can change your invoice
address under Settings → Billing. Let us know if anything is unclear.

OctoDesk sends this comment to your customer by email and marks it as sent, so everyone on the issue can see what went out. When your customer answers, their reply is added to the issue as a new comment. If the issue was already closed, it is reopened.

When everything is resolved, close the issue. Done.

Frequently asked questions

Do my customers need a GitHub account?

No. Your customers write to you through a form or by email and receive your answers by email. They never see GitHub.

Can I send a reply by accident?

OctoDesk is built to make that hard. Only comments that explicitly start with the reply command are sent, only people with write access to the repository can send them, and every sent reply is visibly marked on the issue. When in doubt, OctoDesk does not send.

Who on my team can answer requests?

Everybody with write access to the repository. There are no OctoDesk user accounts to create for your colleagues and no seats to pay for.

Does it work with my website?

If you can add an HTML snippet to it, yes. There is nothing to install on your server.

What happens to my data if I stop using OctoDesk?

Nothing. All conversations are issues in your own repository and stay there. Uninstall the GitHub App, remove the snippet, and you are done.