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Setting up GitLab, GitHub, and JIRA Integrations With the Installer

In Element Enterprise On-Premise, our GitLab, GitHub, and JIRA integrations are provided by the hookshot package. This documentation explains how to configure the installer to install hookshot and then how to interact with hookshot once installed.

Configuring Hookshot with the Installer

  • Copy sample file from config-sample/hookshot/hookshot.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/hookshot
  • Edit the file with the following values :
    • logging_level : The logging level
    • hookshot_fqdn : The adress of hookshot webhook fqdn. It should match something like hookshot.<fqdn.tld>
    • passkey : The name of the local key file. It can be generated using openssl - openssl genrsa -out key.pem 4096
    • provisioning_secret : The provisioning secret used with integration managers. Necessary for integration with integrator.
    • bot_display_name : The name of hookshot bot
    • bot_avatar : An mxc:// uri to the hookshot bot avatar image.
    • verify_tls : Optional. If doing a POC with self-signed certificates, set this to 0. Defaults to 1.
    • disallowed_ip_ranges : Optional. A list of IP ranges to not allow connectivity to. For more information on this, please see: https://ems-docs.element.io/books/ems-knowledge-base/page/hookshot-fails-to-display-configuration-widget
  • Restart the install script

Enabling GitHub Integration

On GitHub

  • This bridge requires a GitHub App. You will need to create one.
  • On the callback URL, set the following one : https://<hookshot_fqdn>/oauth and enable Request user authorization (OAuth) during installation
  • On the webhook URL, set the following one : https://<hookshot_fqdn>/
  • For the webhook secret, you can generate one using pwgen 32 1 to generate one for example. Keep it somewhere safe, you'll need to to configure the bridge.
  • Set the following permissions for the webhook :
    • Repository
      • Actions (read)
      • Contents (read)
      • Discussions (read & write)
      • Issues (read & write)
      • Metadata
      • Projects (read & write)
      • Pull requests (read & write)
    • Organisation
      • Team Discussions (read & write)
  • Install the App

On the installation

  • Copy sample file from config-sample/hookshot/github.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/hookshot
  • Edit the file with the following values :
    • github_auth_id : The AppID given in your github app page
    • github_key_file : The key file received via the Generate a private key button under Private keys section of the github app page.
    • github_webhook_secret : The webhook secret configured in the app.
    • github_oauth_client_id : The OAuth ClientID of the github app page.
    • github_oauth_client_secret : The OAuth Client Secret of the github app page.
    • github_oauth_default_options A mapping to enable special oauth options.
  • Restart the install script

In Element's room

  • As an administrator of the room, invite the hookshot bot
  • Start a private conversation with the bot
  • Type github login
  • Follow the link to connect the bot to the configured app
  • If you have setup Integrator, you can use the integration manager to add a bridge to github

Enabling GitLab integration

On GitLab

  • Add a webhook under the group or the repository you are targeting
  • On the webhook URL, set the following one : https://<hookshot_fqdn>/
  • For the webhook secret, you can generate one using pwgen 32 1 to generate one for example. Keep it somewhere safe, you'll need to to configure the bridge.
  • You should add the events you wish to trigger on. Hookshot currently supports:
    • Push events
    • Tag events
    • Issues events
    • Merge request events
    • Releases events

On the installation

  • Copy sample file from config-sample/hookshot/gitlab.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/hookshot
  • Edit the file with the following values :
    • gitlab_instances: A mapping of the GitLab servers
      • git.example.org: Replace with name of the GitLab server
        • url: Replace with URL of the GitLab server
    • gitlab_webhook_secret: The secret configured in the webhook.

In Element's room

  • As an administrator of the room, invite the hookshot bot
  • Run the command !hookshot gitlab project https://mydomain/my/project to bridge a project to the room

Enabling JIRA integration

On JIRA

  • This should be done for all JIRA organisations you wish to bridge. The steps may differ for SaaS and on-prem, but you need to go to the webhooks configuration page under Settings > System > Webhooks. It should point to https://<hookshot_fqdn>/?secret=<jira_webhook_secret>
  • For the webhook secret, you can generate one using pwgen 32 1 to generate one for example. Keep it somewhere safe, you'll need to to configure the bridge.

Enable OAuth

The JIRA service currently only supports atlassian.com (JIRA SaaS) when handling user authentication. Support for on-prem deployments is hoping to land soon.

  • You'll first need to head to https://developer.atlassian.com/console/myapps/create-3lo-app/ to create a "OAuth 2.0 (3LO)" integration.
  • Once named and created, you will need to:
  • Enable the User REST, JIRA Platform REST and User Identity APIs under Permissions.
  • Use rotating tokens under Authorisation.
  • Set a callback url. This will be the public URL to hookshot with a path of /jira/oauth.
  • Copy the client ID and Secret from Settings

On the installation

  • Copy sample file from config-sample/hookshot/jira.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/hookshot
  • Edit the file with the following values :
    • jira_webhook_secret: The webhook secret configured
    • jira_oauth_client_id: If Oauth is enabled, it should point to the ClientID in Jira's App page. Else, you can keep it empty.
    • jira_oauth_client_secret: If Oauth is enabled, it should point to the Client secret in Jira's App page. Else, you can keep it empty.

In Element's room

  • As an administrator of the room, invite the hookshot bot
  • If you have setup Integrator, you can use the integration manager to add a bridge to JIRA. There is currently a limitation - it only works for public rooms.

Enabling generic webhooks integration

On the installation

  • Copy sample file from config-sample/hookshot/generic.yml in the installer directory to ~/.element-onpremise-config/hookshot
  • Edit the file with the following values :
    • generic_enabled: true to enable it
    • generic_allow_js_transformation_functions: true if you want to enable javascript transformations
    • generic_user_id_prefix: Choose a prefix for the users generated by hookshot for webhooks you'll create

In Element's room

  • As an administrator of the room, invite the hookshot bot
  • Type !hookshot webhook <name of the webhook>
  • The bot will answer with a URL that you can set up as a webhook.
  • Please ensure that the Content-Type is set to the type matching what the webhook sends
  • If you have setup Integrator, you can use the integration manager to add a bridge to a new webhook
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