Allow more than 20 apps per github repo

[shawnvega]

Describe the solution you'd like
I build multiple apps from one repo, and each app uses one github webhook. Github has a limit of 20 webhooks, therefore I can build a maximum of 20 apps from one repo. I would like app center to reuse a single webhook for multiple apps so that I can have webhooks available to do other things, and build more than 20 apps from one repo.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I've considered making more branches and building from those branches, but this seems like a lot of extra work.

[dennispan]

@shawnvega Thanks for reaching out! This is indeed something we are aware of as a limitation. Some customers reached out to GitHub or Bitcket to increase their webhook limit. Didn't work for everyone but some did. So this may be something worth trying for now.

Do you mind sharing how you are using the repository and App Center? Do you have more than 20 applications in the repository? Or do you create multiple App Center apps for each application from the repository?

[shawnvega]

@dennispan I'll reach out to git hub and ask them to increase the number of webhooks.
The repository builds about 27 apps at the moment, and we are about to add 3 more. That would bring us to 30 apps.

[shawnvega]

I've written into github support about increasing my limit, and they have denied my request. below is the response from github support.

Ivan Zuzak (GitHub Developer Support)

Jun 27, 8:55 AM UTC

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for reaching out. Did I notice correctly that each of those webhooks set up on that repository is being triggered by the same exact events and making the same exact webhook deliveries to the same service? If so, then there are 20 webhooks doing the same exact thing -- they're delivering the same events 20 times to the same service. That kind of behavior is wasteful, and the webhook limits were introduced to prevent exactly that kind of wasteful behavior (which is a performance and reliability concern). We can't support a higher number of webhooks for such a use-case.

Instead, the service you're using should be able to work with just one webhook defined on the repository since the events they get from that webhook are the same as the events they get from 20 webhooks they have now. An alternative would be that you build a lightweight middleman proxy and point one webhook to that proxy. The proxy would then forward webhook deliveries it receives to any number of destination URLs that you want (since you control the proxy).

I wish I had better news for you, but I don't. If you have any other questions -- please let me know.

Best,
Ivan

[dennispan]

Thanks for sharing this @shawnvega . Unfortunately this isn't something we can easily change. Technically this is achievable, but the work on our side isn't trivial. Given other priorities, I'm not sure when we will be able to get to this.

[bperreault]

@dennispan - I've been asked to add my comments and contribute to this issue's supporters. We have ran into this same issue and I found this thread through a google search. What do we need to do to get this work item scheduled for development? Can we discuss how we might help? It is this or move on for us, unfortunately.

We have 26 apps listed in AppCenter, with 24 configured. We are not able to connect any more of them because the error is: Linking failed: Failed to configure the GitHub Webhook for the repository. Do you have admin permissions?
We have admin permissions ( as demonstrated by the previous apps which are connected )

[dennispan]

@bperreault Thanks for reaching out. An alternative would be using the GtiHub marketplace app: https://github.com/marketplace/app-center, with added benefits of PR builds. There are couple caveats like billing should go through GitHub, onboarding goes through GitHub etc. This integration doesn't need webhook, which would address your situation.

However, let me look for a quick workaround first with your current setup. The problem right now is that our webhook url has app id. I want to see how easy it is for us to remove that and make it more generic.

[dennispan]

@bperreault Would using the GitHub marketplace app as I suggested above work for you?

Looking at how things are setup on our side, there isn't a quick workaround (aside from using GitHub marketplace app). A proper implementation of a generic webhook url without app id is non-trivial.

[bperreault]

Hi, @dennispan .
We have installed the GitHub marketplace app and the devs will be working with it to see if it will do what we need it to.
Thanks for your help.

[bperreault]

Hello @dennispan .
Our team is in the process of configuring AppCenter through the GitHub app as you have suggested. Is there some limitation in that app which can be resolved? We are not able to configure even as many apps as we were straight through AppCenter.

We have this issue now:
"From the dev:
I have configured 5 iOS client apps and after that I can't configure more. It is showing an error screen like one attached. I have sent a chat to appcenter team and waiting for the reply."

[shawnvega]

We have moved over to bitrise.io Which will allow us to build multiple apps from one repo. Not as many webhooks are required.

…

On Wed, Oct 9, 2019, 10:36 PM Bobbi Perreault ***@***.***> wrote: Hello @dennispan <https://github.com/DennisPan> . Our team is in the process of configuring AppCenter through the GitHub app as you have suggested. Is there some limitation in that app which can be resolved? We are not able to configure even as many apps as we were straight through AppCenter. We have this issue now: *"From the dev: I have configured 5 iOS client apps and after that I can't configure more. It is showing an error screen like one attached. I have sent a chat to appcenter team and waiting for the reply."* [image: unnamed-4] <https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/543334/66481626-4c119180-ea6f-11e9-9276-d6397a6e504c.png> — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#591?email_source=notifications&email_token=AA5ATNHGBV4ODZ5V6TE74RLQNXF5HA5CNFSM4HZNTOLKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEAXXD5Q#issuecomment-539980278>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA5ATNBW5PE22UNIA64RVE3QNXF5HANCNFSM4HZNTOLA> .

[bperreault]

@shawnvega thank you for that update. We'll take a look.

[dennispan]

@bperreault I haven't been able to find the support conversation. You can ask support to forward the conversation to me directly, or let me know the user who initiated the conversation so that I can do a better search.

The error you are seeing typically means the user who started the process don't have the right access to the GitHub organization or user which has the GitHub App installed. But if it was the same user, which had success and now don't, that likely is something else. I will need more information like the user name, etc, to understand

[bperreault]

@dennispan, understood on what the error normally means. and as you have stated, since the same user created all the existing projects it's not likely that the error is given for the same reason in this scenario. I made a request in my AppCenter support case to have the details forwarded to you. Thank you.