Integrate with a Generic VCS

Follow the instructions on this page to integrate your project with a VCS repository on a version control hosted system.

A generic VCS integration enables you to manually attach commits to issues in YouTrack or add links programmatically using an API.

Prerequisite

YouTrack is accessible to inbound connections. Specifically, you need to make sure that your network doesn't block connections between your VCS server and YouTrack.

Configure the VCS Integration

Next, you need to establish a connection between a project in YouTrack and a repository in your VCS. To connect with your VCS, you need the repository URL.

To connect to a VCS repository:

Click the Projects link in the header to open the Projects list.
From the action menu for your project, select VCS.
Click the New VCS Integration button.
- The New VCS Integration dialog opens.
For the Server type, select Generic.
Enter or paste the URL that points to your VCS repository into the Repository URL input field. You can insert $hash$ as a variable for your commit hash.
- Example: https://<servername.com>/<user>/<repositoryname>/commit/$hash$
Click the Save button.
- Your YouTrack project is integrated with the entered repository in from your VCS host.
- You can now manually enter commits from your VCS repository that reference an issue in the project. Commit links are displayed in the activity stream of the referenced issue.
- The sidebar displays additional settings for configuring the VCS integration.
To learn more about these settings, see Integration Settings.

External Integration

Use API calls to authenticate and automatically send information about commits in your VCS repository to YouTrack. When a commit is triggered, an API call is used to send that information to the endpoint YouTrack generates. The call must contain a JSON payload with the commit details that YouTrack expects.

Use the Resource URL generated in the Integration Settings as your POST URL for the API call. The schema for the JSON payload is shown in the example below.

Example Request: POST https://yourserver.youtrack.cloud/api/vcsHooksReceiver/generic/519-6 Accept: application/json Authorization: Basic OLRttN43YBRwnU7= Content-Type: application/json X-YT-Simple-Signature: 1zrYcTh0hAxjbhXrIEoJNagPNqL5wPR7rUx4AQOy4k { "branch":"/refs/head/main", "commits":[ { "version":"48038c4d189536a0862a2c20ed832dc34bd1c8b2", "date":1730130046519, "user":{ "userName":"katie_kelly", "email":"example@gmail.com" }, "comment":"TEST-1 committing code to fix a bug" } ] }

Use the X-YT-Simple-Signature: value from the request as the Auth Header value in the Integration Settings.

Manual Commits in an Issue

After setting up a generic VCS integration for a project, you can add your VCS commits manually to YouTrack issues.

To add a VCS commit manually to an issue:

Open an issue in quick view or single issue view.
Open the Show more menu in the toolbar and select Add commit.
Copy and paste the corresponding commit hash in the URL from your VCS host into the Commit hash field.
When complete, click the Add button to save the VCS commit in the issue.
- The VCS commit is displayed in the issue activity feed.

Learn more about how to View and Edit VCS Changes.

Integration Settings

By default, the VCS integration processes changes that are committed to the repository by any user in any branch. Any user who has access to the issue in YouTrack can view these changes in the issue activity stream.

If you only want to process changes by specific users in designated branches or restrict the visibility of VCS changes in YouTrack, you can customize the integration settings. Use the following settings to customize the integration:

Setting	Description
Repository	Displays the path to the repository in the integrated version control system. If needed, you can edit the location of the repository after you've set up the integration. For instructions, see Edit Repository Settings.
Resource URL	The URL used in a `POST` API call to automatically attach commits to issues in YouTrack.
Auth Header	A hashed value for credentials sent by the VCS host server to YouTrack that can be attached to the API call for authentication. Use the `X-YT-Simple-Signature:` value from a request for the auth header value.
Main YouTrack project	Sets the primary project in which the VCS integration is active.
Additional projects	Integrates the linked repository with one or more additional projects.
Committers	Restricts the ability to update issues with commands in commit messages to members of the specified group. VCS changes from users who are not members of the selected group are still attached to related issues, but any commands that are specified in their commits are ignored.
Processing scheme for VCS changes	Choose how to process VCS changes when the commit message references an issue ID. The following options are supported: Add commits, ignore commands: Add VCS changes to issues when a commit message references an ID that belongs to an issue in an integrated project. Any command in the commit message is ignored. Add commits in all projects, apply commands in main: Add VCS changes to issues when a commit message references an ID that belongs to an issue in an integrated project. Only apply commands to issues that belong to the currently selected main project. When this option is selected, the Parse commits for issue comments option becomes available. Add commits and apply commands to all projects: Add VCS changes to issues when a commit message references an ID that belongs to an issue in an integrated project. Update issues in any integrated project when commit messages include commands. Scheme is available only when at least one Additional project is specified in the integration settings. When this option is selected, the Parse commits for issue comments option becomes available.
Monitored branches	Stores the names of the branches that you want to monitor for changes. Use `+` to include a branch. Use `-` to exclude a branch. For the `branch name`, use the fully qualified name of the branch. For example, `refs/heads/<branch name>`. Use * as a wildcard. This placeholder matches one or more characters in a string. For example, to include all feature branches, use: +:refs/heads/feature/* You can only use one wildcard character per branch pattern. If you specify a pattern that contains more than one asterisk character, only the first is evaluated as a wildcard. To monitor all branches, leave the input field empty. If the address that you entered as the Repository URL when you connected to the repository points to a specific branch, this branch is automatically added to the list of monitored branches when you set up the connection.
VCS changes visibility	Restricts the visibility of VCS changes to one or more groups of users in YouTrack. When unrestricted, the list of VCS changes is visible to any user who has permission to read the issue.

Available Actions

When you select an integrated version control system in the list, the following actions are available in the toolbar:

Action	Description
Disable	Shuts off the connection between the integrated project and the VCS repository. The configuration is not changed and can be enabled at any time.
Edit	Opens the integration settings dialog in the sidebar for the selected project and repository.
Delete	Removes the settings for the integrated project from YouTrack. This action also removes all VCS changes that were added to issues for commits in the linked repository. While the action itself cannot be undone, you can use the Import action to restore VCS changes that were removed accidentally.
Import commits and open pull requests	Checks the commit history in the linked repository and adds VCS changes to issues that are referenced in commit messages. This option is only available for integrations that are currently enabled. You can use this action to restore VCS changes that were removed when an integration was accidentally deleted or to migrate links to issues in a new project.

Last modified: 11 November 2024