GitHub sync

GitHub sync gives every project an off-machine backup and a way to move between computers, built on the real Git repo each project already is. There’s no Oleafly account in the picture, just your own GitHub.

Connecting your account

Settings, GitHub, then either route:

• Connect GitHub (recommended): a device-code flow. Oleafly shows a short code, your browser opens github.com/login/device (with a Copy button for the code), you approve, and the app detects it within seconds. The connection requests only the repo and read:user scopes.
• Personal access token: expand “Advanced: use a personal access token” and paste a PAT if you prefer minting your own credentials.

Once connected, your avatar and username appear in Settings and in the top toolbar’s GitHub menu. Disconnect forgets the token.

How your token is protected

The token is stored in Oleafly’s local config and never handed to the app’s UI layer; the interface only ever learns “connected as @you”. When Git needs to authenticate, the token is injected through an in-memory credential helper, so it never appears in a command line, in .git/config, or in your shell history. Older builds that embedded tokens in remote URLs are cleaned up automatically at startup.

Publishing a project

In the Source Control panel, click Publish to GitHub:

• Create new repository: pick a name (pre-filled from the project), keep Private (recommended) checked or not, and Create & push. Oleafly creates the repo, makes the initial commit, wires up origin, and pushes.
• Link existing: pick from a searchable list of your repositories (private ones show a lock) and Link & push.

After publishing, the toolbar’s GitHub menu offers Open in GitHub and Copy repository link.

Day-to-day sync

The Source Control panel’s Push and Pull buttons do what they say, against origin on your current branch. The ahead/behind indicator (↑ ↓) next to the branch pill tells you when there’s something to push or pull.

Two computers

1. On machine A: publish the project, work, Push.
2. On machine B: connect the same GitHub account and get the repo into ~/.openleaf/projects/ (clone it there with Git, or copy the project folder once). From then on, Pull, work, Push.
3. Back on A: Pull before you start. The indicator reminds you.

Cover color, main-document choice, and history all travel, because they live in the project folder itself.

Changing your mind

• Change repo re-opens the publish dialog to point origin somewhere else.
• Unlink removes the remote; the local project and its history are untouched.

Limits, stated plainly

• Conflicts aren’t resolved in-app. If a pull hits a merge conflict, the raw Git message is shown; resolve it with any Git tool, then carry on in Oleafly.
• HTTPS remotes are what Oleafly authenticates; Publish sets this up correctly for you.
• No branch UI yet: the app works on your current branch (main by default); branching happens on the command line if you want it.

If something fails

• “No remote ‘origin’”: publish first; Push and Pull need a remote.
• Push rejected because the remote has commits: pull first, then push.
• “No GitHub token set”: connect in Settings, GitHub.

More in the FAQ.