GitHub Setup

Things that need to be configured directly on GitHub — these can’t be committed to the repo but are required for CI/CD, docs, and deployment to work correctly.

Repository secrets

Go to: GitHub repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → Repository secrets

Secret	Value	Used by
`RENDER_DEPLOY_HOOK_BACKEND`	Render deploy hook URL	`deploy.yml` — triggers backend redeploy
`JWT_ACCESS_SECRET`	64-char hex string	Backend on Render + E2E CI
`JWT_REFRESH_SECRET`	64-char hex string	Backend on Render + E2E CI
`E2E_DATABASE_URL`	Neon testing branch connection string	`ci.yml` — E2E isolated backend

Critical: E2E_DATABASE_URL must be added as a GitHub secret. Without it the E2E backend starts with an empty DATABASE_URL and all login attempts fail silently — tests stay on /login with no error shown.

Getting each value

RENDER_DEPLOY_HOOK_BACKEND Render dashboard → your backend service → Settings → scroll to Deploy Hook → copy URL

JWT_ACCESS_SECRET / JWT_REFRESH_SECRET Generate fresh values:

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(64).toString('hex'))"

E2E_DATABASE_URL Neon dashboard → your project → Branches → testing → Connection string

Repository variables

Go to: GitHub repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → Variables tab

Variable	Value	Used by
`E2E_BASE_URL`	`https://shiftwise-app.vercel.app`	`ci.yml` — Playwright smoke tests vs production (optional)

GitHub Pages

Required for the docs site and TypeDoc API documentation.

Go to: GitHub repo → Settings → Pages

Setting	Value
Source	Deploy from a branch
Branch	`main`
Folder	`/docs`

Once set, the docs site is available at:

https://irenaproj.github.io/shiftwise/

TypeDoc API docs are at:

https://irenaproj.github.io/shiftwise/api/

The docs.yml workflow regenerates TypeDoc and commits it back to docs/api/ automatically when files in packages/dates/src/, backend/src/lib/, or backend/src/middleware/ change.

Manually triggering TypeDoc regeneration

TypeDoc only regenerates automatically when files in packages/dates/src/, backend/src/lib/, or backend/src/middleware/ change. For all other doc updates (e.g. updating markdown files), regenerate manually:

Option A — GitHub Actions: GitHub repo → Actions → Docs → Run workflow → Run workflow

Option B — locally:

npx typedoc
git add docs/api/
git commit -m "chore: regenerate TypeDoc"
git push

Actions permissions

Go to: GitHub repo → Settings → Actions → General

Setting	Value
Actions permissions	Allow all actions and reusable workflows
Workflow permissions	Read and write permissions

Read and write permissions is required for the docs.yml workflow to commit TypeDoc output back to the repo.

Branch protection (recommended)

Go to: GitHub repo → Settings → Branches → Add branch ruleset

Suggested rules for main:

Rule	Value
Require status checks to pass	✅ — add `Backend — type check & build`, `Frontend — type check & build`, `Backend — Jest tests`, `Frontend — Vitest tests`, `E2E — Playwright`
Require branches to be up to date	✅
Block force pushes	✅

This ensures no code reaches main without passing all CI jobs — the deploy workflow only runs on main, so broken code never gets deployed.

Neon database branches

Production branch

Used by the live app on Render.

Neon dashboard → your project → Branches → production → Connection string

Add to Render environment variables as DATABASE_URL.

Testing branch

Used exclusively by E2E tests in CI and locally — completely isolated from production data.

Neon dashboard → your project → Branches → Create branch
Name: testing, Parent: production
Data: Schema only — the seed script handles data
Uncheck auto-delete
Copy the connection string
Add as E2E_DATABASE_URL in GitHub repository secrets
Add to root .env locally as E2E_DATABASE_URL=...

The testing branch is wiped and reseeded with known data before every Playwright run — tests always start from a clean predictable state.

Codespaces

Go to: GitHub repo → Settings → Codespaces

Setting	Recommended value
Prebuild configuration	Optional — speeds up Codespace creation
Machine type	2-core (sufficient for this project)

Codespace secrets

Add at: github.com → Settings → Codespaces → Secrets → New secret

Secret	Value
`DATABASE_URL`	Your Neon production connection string
`JWT_ACCESS_SECRET`	Your JWT access secret
`JWT_REFRESH_SECRET`	Your JWT refresh secret

These are injected as environment variables when the Codespace starts. The backend/.env file still needs to be created manually (or via .devcontainer/setup.sh) — these secrets just make the values available.

Vercel

Go to: vercel.com → your project → Settings → Environment Variables

Variable	Value	Environment
`VITE_API_URL`	`https://shiftwise-0sin.onrender.com`	Production

Vercel auto-deploys on every push to main via its GitHub integration. The frontend root directory is set to frontend during initial project creation.

Render

Go to: render.com → your backend service → Settings → Environment Variables

Variable	Value
`DATABASE_URL`	Neon production connection string
`JWT_ACCESS_SECRET`	64-char hex string
`JWT_REFRESH_SECRET`	64-char hex string
`FRONTEND_URL`	`https://shiftwise-app.vercel.app`
`NODE_ENV`	`production`
`PORT`	`3001`

Auto-deploy

Render auto-deploy should be disabled — deploys are triggered exclusively via the GitHub Actions deploy hook to keep CI/CD as the single source of truth.

Go to: Settings → Auto-Deploy → set to No

Deploy hook

Go to: Settings → Deploy Hook → copy the URL → add as RENDER_DEPLOY_HOOK_BACKEND in GitHub repository secrets.