[GitHub integration] Cowork session can't access repo even though "Check repository status" shows green
Screenshot
I connected GitHub in Settings → Connectors. Everything shows green:
- GitHub account connected
- Claude GitHub App installed on my personal account
- "Check repository status" says Claude Code cloud sessions can work in my private repo
I then started a new Cowork thread (web browser) and asked Claude to read and push to that repo.
Every repo-scoped API call returns HTTP 403:
"GitHub access to this repository is not enabled for this session. Use add_repo to request access."
No add_repo tool is available in the Cowork session, so the repo can never be attached.
git ls-remote also fails (no credentials).
Expected: a Cowork session can read and push to a repo that the settings page says is accessible,
or there is a way to choose which repo the session uses.
Actual: the GitHub account is recognized, but no repository is ever attached to the session.
<img width="1920" height="1080" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8ec701e3-4607-4126-a0c2-5c023b2f98a6" />
What were you trying to do?
I connected GitHub in Settings → Connectors and everything shows green: GitHub account connected, the Claude GitHub App is installed on my personal account, and "Check repository status" says Claude Code cloud sessions can work in my private repo.
I then started a new Cowork thread in the web browser and asked Claude to read from and push to that repo, so I could stop copying code changes in by hand through GitHub's web editor.
What happened instead?
Claude could tell which GitHub account I'm signed in with, but every request to the repo failed with HTTP 403:
"GitHub access to this repository is not enabled for this session. Use add_repo to request access."
No add_repo tool is available inside the Cowork session, so there's no way to attach the repo. git ls-remote also fails (no credentials). The same thing happened in an earlier Cowork thread.
Expected: a Cowork session can use a repo that the settings page says is accessible, or there is a way to choose the repo for the session.
Diagnostics
Filed from: GitHub settings for Claude Code on claude.ai
Report code: GH-F787NN
Page: claude.ai/customize/connectors/integration-github
Client: web