What Fervio asks for

Signing in takes you to GitHub's consent screen. Using Fervio with private repositories means granting broad access — GitHub's own rules leave no narrower option — and this page explains why. Last updated 9 August 2026.

The part that will make you pause

GitHub's screen will say "Full control of private repositories." That is strong wording, and pausing there is the right instinct.

Those words are GitHub's, not Fervio's. GitHub offers no issues-only permission, so working with issues in a private repository means asking for the broad one. There is no narrower option to pick.

So what you can grant and what gets used are two different things. The next section spells out which part of that gap GitHub enforces, and which part is only a promise from the code.

The scope cannot be narrowed

The most misread part first. GitHub's repo is one all-or-nothing scope. There is no mechanism on GitHub's side to hand over "issues only" or "everything except code."

So the token you grant can technically read your source code. Fervio does not read it because the program never calls that API — not because GitHub is stopping it. That is a "does not," not a "cannot," and it is worth stating plainly.

There is a mechanism with fine-grained permissions (GitHub Apps), but it cannot reach Projects owned by a personal account (checked August 2026). Opening a personal Project leaves no other option than this one.

There is exactly one narrowing that GitHub itself enforces: signing in with public repositories only (public_repo). On that path Fervio cannot reach private repositories at all. That one is not a promise — GitHub stops it.

Ways in, and what each hands over

What you hand over depends on which sign-in you use. The names in code are GitHub's own scopes, and the consent screen is organised around exactly these.

Way in	Scopes granted	On the consent screen	What it can reach
Private repos included (default)	`repo` `project` `user:email`	"Full control of private repositories" appears	Public and private
Public repos only	`public_repo` `project` `user:email`	That line never appears	Public repositories only
Organization Projects too	Adds `read:org`	Reading your org membership is added	Projects owned by an organization
Viewing a shared link	No sign-in at all	Nothing is read	The shared snapshot

read:org is never asked of everyone up front. It is requested at the moment you decide to open an organization Project.

user:email reads your verified email address, and nothing else about your account. It is there so that signing in with GitHub, with Linear, or with an email link all land on the same Fervio account. Fervio does not send you anything except the sign-in link you ask for.

What it reads on GitHub

When you	It reads	Needs
Pick a Project	The names of the Projects you own	`project`
Open a map	The Project's items, and the title, state, assignee, estimate, labels and sub-task progress of the issues on them	`project` and `repo`
Open a card	That issue's description, plus the assignees and labels you can pick from. One card at a time, fetched when you open it	`repo`
See release rows	The milestone on each issue	`repo`
Import issues	Repository names and the titles of open issues	`repo`
Pick an organization Project	The names of organizations you belong to	`read:org`

If you signed in with public repositories only, every repo above becomes public_repo, and only public issues are read.

What it writes on GitHub

Nothing is written unless you do something in the interface. Opening a map, or leaving it open, writes nothing. There is no background job.

When you	It writes	Needs
Map a Project for the first time	Creates two fields, `Journey` and `Step`	`project`
Add a journey or a step	Adds one option to that field	`project`
Start using sprints	Creates one `Iteration` field with three two-week cycles	`project`
Move a card to another sprint	Changes that card's `Iteration` value	`project`
Move a card across the board	Changes that card's `Status` value	`project`
Move a card across columns	Changes that card's `Journey` / `Step` value	`project`
Move a card to another release row	Changes the milestone on the real issue	`repo`
Create a card	Creates one issue and puts it on the Project	`repo` and `project`
Import an existing issue	Puts that issue on the Project	`project`
Change a card's state	Changes that card's `Status` value	`project`
Change the assignee	Replaces who the issue is assigned to	`repo`
Change the estimate	Changes the value of the Project's estimate field	`project`
Add or remove labels	Replaces the labels on that issue	`repo`
Edit the description	Overwrites that issue's body	`repo`
Remove a card from the map	Removes the item from the Project. The issue itself is not deleted	`project`
Start from a new Project	Creates one Project	`project`
Delete a Project Fervio created	Deletes that Project, after you confirm. Only ones Fervio made	`project`

Signing in with Linear

Linear asks for read, write and issues:create. Linear has no repositories and no source code, so there is no equivalent of the line above that makes people pause — the consent screen says what it means. Fervio reads teams, projects, issues, cycles and labels, and writes only issues and the labels that hold the map together.

What it reads on Linear

To do this	It reads	Scope
Create a board	The names of the teams you belong to	`read`
Open a map	The team's projects, issues, cycles and labels, and each issue's title, state, assignee, estimate, due date, labels and sub-task progress	`read`
Show the journey bands	Initiative names, and the projects under them	`read`
Open a card	That issue's description. One card at a time, fetched when you open it	`read`

What it writes on Linear

When you	It writes	Scope
Move a card to another column	Changes the project that issue belongs to	`write`
Move a card to another sprint	Changes that issue's cycle	`write`
Move a card to another release row	Swaps the release label on that issue	`write`
Edit the description	Overwrites that issue's description	`write`
Create a card	Creates one issue	`issues:create`
Remove a card from the map	Archives that issue	`write`
Add a step	Creates one project	`write`
Add a journey	Creates one initiative and links projects to it	`write`
Add a release row	Creates one label that belongs to Fervio	`write`

Changing a state, assignee, estimate or labels from the card panel works on GitHub only, for now. On Linear the card panel edits the description.

Nothing outside these two tables is ever written.

What it never touches

Subject	Treatment
Source code	Never read. There is no call to any file-contents API anywhere in the program
Pull requests	Neither read nor written
Repository settings, webhooks, Actions	Never touched
Deleting issues	Never. Removing a card leaves the issue on GitHub

Public repositories only

If you have no plans to touch private repositories, you can sign in with public access only. That path never shows "Full control of private repositories."

Issues in private repositories will not appear on the map. If you change your mind later, sign in again and the scopes are added.

Start with public repositories only

If you are still uneasy

Revoke at any time. Under Settings → Applications on GitHub, revoking Fervio's access stops it reading or writing anything from that moment on. Your map layout stays on Fervio's side, but nothing on GitHub is touched.
Try it on a throwaway account. A second GitHub account with one Project in it is the safest way to see what this actually does.

Organization Projects

Opening a Project owned by an organization asks for one extra permission — read:org, which reads the list of organizations you belong to — and only at the moment you choose the organization path. It is never requested up front.

Some organizations also require third-party apps to be approved. If yours does, the Projects will not appear until an organization owner approves Fervio under Settings → Third-party access.

When this changes

If Fervio ever asks for more, this page changes first. The privacy page lists what is stored in a form you can count. Questions go to [email protected].