GitHubFileEditor

Edit, create, delete, or undo changes to files in GitHub repositories through the GitHub API—designed for AI agents that autonomously modify code.

Key Features

• Supports four operations: edit (replace content), create (new file), delete, and undo (revert the last commit).
• Resolves a GITHUB_TOKEN secret at runtime, keeping credentials out of the pipeline YAML.
• Accepts a default repository and branch at initialization; both can be overridden at run time.
• For edit, verifies that the target string is unique before making any change, preventing accidental multi-site replacements.
• For undo, confirms the last commit was made by the authenticated user before reverting.
• Raises an exception or returns an error string on failure, depending on raise_on_failure.

Configuration

1. Store your GitHub personal access token as a secret named GITHUB_TOKEN. For instructions, see Create Secrets.
2. Drag the GitHubFileEditor component onto the canvas from the Component Library.
3. Click on the component to open the configuration panel.
4. Set repo to the default repository in owner/repo format.
5. Set branch to the default branch (for example, main).

Connections

GitHubFileEditor receives a command string (one of edit, undo, create, or delete) and a payload dict with operation-specific parameters (path, original string, replacement, message, and so on). It outputs a result string describing the outcome. You can connect the output to a prompt builder or another component that evaluates the edit result.

Source Code

To check this component's source code, open file_editor.py in the Haystack Core Integrations repository.

Usage Examples

Basic Configuration

  GitHubFileEditor:
    type: haystack_integrations.components.connectors.github.file_editor.GitHubFileEditor
    init_parameters:
      github_token:
        type: env_var
        env_vars:
        - GITHUB_TOKEN
        strict: true
      repo: owner/my-repo
      branch: main
      raise_on_failure: true

Using the Component in a Pipeline

This example shows a pipeline where an agent reads a repository, decides on a change, and then applies it.

# haystack-pipeline

components:
  repo_viewer:
    type: haystack_integrations.components.connectors.github.repo_viewer.GitHubRepoViewer
    init_parameters:
      github_token:
        type: env_var
        env_vars:
        - GITHUB_TOKEN
        strict: true
      repo: owner/my-repo
      branch: main

  file_editor:
    type: haystack_integrations.components.connectors.github.file_editor.GitHubFileEditor
    init_parameters:
      github_token:
        type: env_var
        env_vars:
        - GITHUB_TOKEN
        strict: true
      repo: owner/my-repo
      branch: main
      raise_on_failure: true

inputs:
  command:
  - file_editor.command
  payload:
  - file_editor.payload
  path:
  - repo_viewer.path

outputs:
  result: file_editor.result
  documents: repo_viewer.documents

max_runs_per_component: 100

metadata: {}

Parameters

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
command	str or Command		Operation to perform. One of edit, undo, create, or delete.
payload	dict		Command-specific parameters. For edit: path, original, replacement, message. For create: path, content, message. For delete: path, message. For undo: no extra keys needed.
repo	Optional[str]	None	Repository in owner/repo format. Overrides the default set at initialization.
branch	Optional[str]	None	Branch to operate on. Overrides the default set at initialization.

Outputs

Parameter	Type	Description
result	str	A string describing the outcome of the operation (for example, Edit successful or an error message).

Init Parameters

These are the parameters you can configure in Pipeline Builder:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
github_token	Secret	Secret.from_env_var("GITHUB_TOKEN")	GitHub personal access token used for API authentication.
repo	Optional[str]	None	Default repository in owner/repo format.
branch	str	main	Default branch to operate on.
raise_on_failure	bool	True	If True, raises an exception on API errors. If False, returns an error string in result.

Related Information

• GitHubRepoViewer
• GitHubPRCreator
• GitHubRepoForker
• Pipeline Components