# Import your project from GitHub to GitLab

Import your projects from GitHub to GitLab with minimal effort.

## Overview

>**Note:**
If you are an administrator you can enable the [GitHub integration][gh-import]
in your GitLab instance sitewide. This configuration is optional, users will
still be able to import their GitHub repositories with a
[personal access token][gh-token].

>**Note:**
Administrators of a GitLab instance (Community or Enterprise Edition) can also
use the [GitHub rake task][gh-rake] to import projects from GitHub without the
constrains of a Sidekiq worker.

- At its current state, GitHub importer can import:
  - the repository description (GitLab 7.7+)
  - the Git repository data (GitLab 7.7+)
  - the issues (GitLab 7.7+)
  - the pull requests (GitLab 8.4+)
  - the wiki pages (GitLab 8.4+)
  - the milestones (GitLab 8.7+)
  - the labels (GitLab 8.7+)
  - the release note descriptions (GitLab 8.12+)
  - the pull request review comments (GitLab 10.2+)
  - the regular issue and pull request comments
- References to pull requests and issues are preserved (GitLab 8.7+)
- Repository public access is retained. If a repository is private in GitHub
  it will be created as private in GitLab as well.

## How it works

When issues/pull requests are being imported, the GitHub importer tries to find
the GitHub author/assignee in GitLab's database using the GitHub ID. For this
to work, the GitHub author/assignee should have signed in beforehand in GitLab
and **associated their GitHub account**. If the user is not
found in GitLab's database, the project creator (most of the times the current
user that started the import process) is set as the author, but a reference on
the issue about the original GitHub author is kept.

The importer will create any new namespaces (groups) if they don't exist or in
the case the namespace is taken, the repository will be imported under the user's
namespace that started the import process.

The importer will also import branches on forks of projects related to open pull
requests. These branches will be imported with a naming scheme similar to
GH-SHA-Username/Pull-Request-number/fork-name/branch. This may lead to a discrepency
in branches compared to the GitHub Repository.

For a more technical description and an overview of the architecture you can
refer to [Working with the GitHub importer][gh-import-dev-docs].

## Importing your GitHub repositories

The importer page is visible when you create a new project.

![New project page on GitLab](img/import_projects_from_new_project_page.png)

Click on the **GitHub** link and the import authorization process will start.
There are two ways to authorize access to your GitHub repositories:

1. [Using the GitHub integration][gh-integration] (if it's enabled by your
   GitLab administrator). This is the preferred way as it's possible to
   preserve the GitHub authors/assignees. Read more in the [How it works](#how-it-works)
   section.
1. [Using a personal access token][gh-token] provided by GitHub.

![Select authentication method](img/import_projects_from_github_select_auth_method.png)

### Authorize access to your repositories using the GitHub integration

If the [GitHub integration][gh-import] is enabled by your GitLab administrator,
you can use it instead of the personal access token.

1. First you may want to connect your GitHub account to GitLab in order for
   the username mapping to be correct.
1. Once you connect GitHub, click the **List your GitHub repositories** button
   and you will be redirected to GitHub for permission to access your projects.
1. After accepting, you'll be automatically redirected to the importer.

You can now go on and [select which repositories to import](#select-which-repositories-to-import).

### Authorize access to your repositories using a personal access token

>**Note:**
For a proper author/assignee mapping for issues and pull requests, the
[GitHub integration][gh-integration] should be used instead of the
[personal access token][gh-token]. If the GitHub integration is enabled by your
GitLab administrator, it should be the preferred method to import your repositories.
Read more in the [How it works](#how-it-works) section.

If you are not using the GitHub integration, you can still perform a one-off
authorization with GitHub to grant GitLab access your repositories:

1. Go to <https://github.com/settings/tokens/new>.
1. Enter a token description.
1. Check the `repo` scope.
1. Click **Generate token**.
1. Copy the token hash.
1. Go back to GitLab and provide the token to the GitHub importer.
1. Hit the **List Your GitHub Repositories** button and wait while GitLab reads
   your repositories' information. Once done, you'll be taken to the importer
   page to select the repositories to import.

### Select which repositories to import

After you've authorized access to your GitHub repositories, you will be
redirected to the GitHub importer page.

From there, you can see the import statuses of your GitHub repositories.

- Those that are being imported will show a _started_ status,
- those already successfully imported will be green with a _done_ status,
- whereas those that are not yet imported will have an **Import** button on the
  right side of the table.

If you want, you can import all your GitHub projects in one go by hitting
**Import all projects** in the upper left corner.

![GitHub importer page](img/import_projects_from_github_importer.png)

---

You can also choose a different name for the project and a different namespace,
if you have the privileges to do so.

## Making the import process go faster

For large projects it may take a while to import all data. To reduce the time
necessary you can increase the number of Sidekiq workers that process the
following queues:

* `github_importer`
* `github_importer_advance_stage`

For an optimal experience we recommend having at least 4 Sidekiq processes (each
running a number of threads equal to the number of CPU cores) that _only_
process these queues. We also recommend that these processes run on separate
servers. For 4 servers with 8 cores this means you can import up to 32 objects
(e.g. issues) in parallel.

Reducing the time spent in cloning a repository can be done by increasing
network throughput, CPU capacity, and disk performance (e.g.  by using high
performance SSDs) of the disks that store the Git repositories (for your GitLab
instance). Increasing the number of Sidekiq workers will _not_ reduce the time
spent cloning repositories.

[gh-import]: ../../../integration/github.md "GitHub integration"
[gh-rake]: ../../../administration/raketasks/github_import.md "GitHub rake task"
[gh-integration]: #authorize-access-to-your-repositories-using-the-github-integration
[gh-token]: #authorize-access-to-your-repositories-using-a-personal-access-token
[gh-import-dev-docs]: ../../../development/github_importer.md "Working with the GitHub importer"
