Manage connections for source control and hosting providers

On the Connections page, you can view, create, and delete your source control connections and hosting provider connections.

The connections page.
Important

A source control connection is linked to a specific source control provider account, and a hosting provider connection is linked to a specific hosting provider account.

A connection can be used by:

  • Everyone - in the organization where the connection was created.

  • The creator - in all organizations that they belong to.

For example, if Dave belongs to the organizations A,B, and C, and creates a connection to GitHub in organization A:

  • All users in organization A can see and delete the connection.

  • All users in organization B cannot see or delete the connection.

  • All users in organization C cannot see or delete the connection.

  • Dave can see and delete the connection in organization A, B and C as he is the creator of the connection.

Therefore, we strongly recommend you use a service account when creating a source control connection or hosting provider connection.

A source control connection grants access to the repositories containing the XM Cloud environment code you want to deploy or gives the Deploy app permission to create repositories in your source control provider.

The Deploy app supports the following source control providers:

A hosting provider connection gives the Deploy app permission to deploy XM Cloud websites with your hosting providers.

The Deploy app supports the following hosting provider:

  • Vercel

    Important

    If you're getting started with Vercel for the first time, the Vercel connector can help you quickly deploy your website. However, this creates a new Vercel project for every site you deploy. For production sites and multiple site connections across environments, deploy your front-end application to Vercel or Netlify.

Creating a source control connection with GitHub

Before you begin

  • To provide the list of a GitHub account's repositories, the Deploy app requires read and write access to administration and code. If you don't want to grant these permissions, create your projects and environments using the XM Cloud Deploy API or the Sitecore CLI.

If you want the Deploy app to access the GitHub repositories containing your XM Cloud environment code or create repositories in your GitHub account, you need to create a source control connection.

When you create a source control connection with GitHub, you have two options.

Install & Authorize the Sitecore Deploy GitHub app for:

  •  Selected repositories - choose this option when you have existing code and you want to limit the Deploy app's access to specific GitHub repositories.

  •   All repositories - choose this option if you want the Deploy app to have access to all your GitHub repositories and create repositories on your behalf. Required when you choose the foundation template in the project creation wizard because the Deploy app creates a new repository for the foundation template code.

Note

If you want to use the foundation template while limiting the Deploy app's access to your GitHub repos, you can:

  1. Clone the foundation template repository.

  2. In the Deploy app, create a source control connection for the GitHub account where you cloned the Foundation Template and Install & Authorize the Sitecore Deploy GitHub app for the repository that contains the foundation template.

  3. In the project creation wizard, create a project and choose the source control connection and repository that you cloned.

To create a source control connection with GitHub:

  1. On the navigation pane of the Deploy app, click Connections.

  2. On the Connections page, click Create connection > GitHub.

  3. Choose the GitHub account or organization where you want to install and authorize the Deploy app.

    Note

    A source control connection relies on a specific source control provider account. To avoid access and permission errors, we strongly recommend that you use a service account to install and authorize the Deploy app.

  4. Creating a new GitHub connection will install and authorize the Sitecore Deploy GitHub app on your personal account, organization, or enterprise.

    • If you only want to create projects from existing source code, you need to Install & Authorize the Sitecore Deploy GitHub app for the repositories that contain your existing code.

    • If you also want to create projects from the foundation template, you need to Install & Authorize the Sitecore Deploy GitHub app for All repositories.

    • If you are a GitHub Organization member, you must first Authorize & Request the Sitecore Deploy GitHub app. Then a GitHub Organization owner must Approve, Install, & Authorize your request.

    • You cannot create a new GitHub connection with an Enterprise Managed User account.

    • All GitHub repositories created by the Deploy App have private visibility.

You can also create a source control connection when you create a project in the Deploy app.

Creating a source control connection with Azure DevOps

Before you begin

  • A source control connection relies on a specific source control provider account. To avoid access and permission errors, we strongly recommend that you use a service account that is part of the Project Administrators group when creating a source control connection with Azure DevOps.

  • If you use an Azure DevOps account that is not part of the Project Administrators group, it must have the Edit subscriptions, View subscriptions, and Create repository permissions.

  • The Deploy app requires Code (full), Project and team (read), and Token Administration permissions. If you don't want to grant these permissions, create your projects and environments using the XM Cloud Deploy API or the Sitecore CLI.

  • Your Azure DevOps organization must allow third-party application access via OAuth. You can enable this policy from Organization settings > Policies.

If you want the Deploy app to access the Azure DevOps repositories containing your XM Cloud environment code or create repositories in your Azure DevOps project, you need to create a source control connection.

To create a source control connection with Azure DevOps:

  1. On the navigation pane of the Deploy app, click Connections.

  2. On the Connections page, click Create connection > Azure DevOps.

  3. Log in to the Azure DevOps account where you want to authorize the Deploy app.

    Note

    A source control connection relies on a specific source control provider account, so we strongly recommend that you use a service account to authorize the Deploy app.

  4. On the app authorization page, click Accept.

You can also create a source control connection when you create a project in the Deploy app.

Delete a source control connection

You can delete a source control connection that you don't need. You cannot delete a source control connection that is associated with a project.

To permanently delete a source control connection:

  1. On the navigation pane of the Deploy app, click Connections.

  2. On the Connections page, locate the source control connection you want to delete, then click Actions > Delete.

  3. In the Delete connection dialog, click Delete.

    Note

    If you want to revoke the Deploy app's authorization for an Azure DevOps connection, log in to your Azure DevOps account, open https://app.vssps.visualstudio.com/Profile/View, select Manage authorizations, then revoke the Deploy app's access.

Create a hosting provider connection

You can create a hosting provider connection to give the Deploy app permission to deploy XM Cloud websites with your hosting providers.

To create a hosting provider connection:

  1. On the navigation pane of the Deploy app, click Connections.

  2. On the Connections page, on the Hosting tab, click Create connection, then click the hosting provider you want to create a connection for.

  3. Follow the hosting provider's steps to create a new connection.

Delete a hosting provider connection

You can delete a hosting provider connection that you don't need. If you delete a Vercel connection that was used to set up hosting for a site, the Deploy app can't delete the Vercel project associated with that site.

To permanently delete a hosting provider connection:

  1. On the navigation pane of the Deploy app, click Connections.

  2. On the Connections page, on the Hosting tab, locate the hosting provider connection you want to delete and click Actions > Delete connection.

  3. In the Delete connection dialog, click Delete.

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