How to Prevent a GitHub Issue Report from Being Posted and Send Notification to User in Python?

Are you tired of receiving unnecessary or duplicate issue reports on your GitHub repository? Do you want to automate the process of filtering out irrelevant issues and notify the user about the status of their report? Look no further! In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of creating a Python script that prevents a GitHub issue report from being posted and sends a notification to the user.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into the coding part, make sure you have the following:

• A GitHub repository with admin access
• A Python 3.x installed on your system
• The requests and github libraries installed using pip: pip install requests github
• A basic understanding of Python and GitHub API

Understanding GitHub Webhooks

GitHub webhooks are a way to receive notifications about specific events that occur in your repository, such as new issue reports, comments, or pull requests. We’ll use webhooks to capture the issue report event and prevent it from being posted if it meets certain criteria.

Here’s a high-level overview of how webhooks work:

1. Github sends a POST request to your webhook URL whenever an event occurs
2. Your webhook script processes the request and takes action accordingly
3. Your script can respond to the request with a success or failure status

Setting up the Webhook

To set up a webhook, follow these steps:

1. Go to your GitHub repository and click on Settings > Webhooks
2. Click on New webhook and enter the following details:
   • Payload URL: the URL where your webhook script will receive the request
   • Content type: select application/json
   • Events: select Issues
3. Click on Add webhook

The Python Script

Now that we have our webhook set up, let’s create a Python script to process the issue report event. Create a new file called github_webhook.py and add the following code:

import json
import requests

# GitHub API token with repo access
GITHUB_TOKEN = 'your-github-token'

# GitHub repository owner and name
GITHUB_REPO_OWNER = 'your-github-username'
GITHUB_REPO_NAME = 'your-repo-name'

# Webhook secret (optional)
WEBHOOK_SECRET = 'your-webhook-secret'

def process_issue_report(request):
    # Get the issue report data from the request
    data = request.get_json()
    issue_title = data['issue']['title']
    issue_body = data['issue']['body']

    # Check if the issue report meets the criteria to be prevented
    if contains_spam_words(issue_title, issue_body):
        # Prevent the issue report from being posted
        return {'status': 'fail'}

    # Allow the issue report to be posted
    return {'status': 'success'}

def contains_spam_words(title, body):
    # Your spam detection logic goes here
    # For example, check if the title or body contains specific keywords
    spam_words = ['spam', 'nonsense', 'irrelevant']
    for word in spam_words:
        if word in title.lower() or word in body.lower():
            return True
    return False

def send_notification(issue_title, username):
    # Use the GitHub API to send a notification to the user
    headers = {
        'Authorization': f'Bearer {GITHUB_TOKEN}',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }
    data = {
        'title': f'Issue report rejected: {issue_title}',
        'body': f'Your issue report was rejected due to spam detection.',
        'username': username
    }
    response = requests.post(f'https://api.github.com/repos/{GITHUB_REPO_OWNER}/{GITHUB_REPO_NAME}/issues/comments', headers=headers, json=data)
    if response.status_code == 201:
        print(f'Notification sent to {username}')
    else:
        print(f'Error sending notification: {response.text}')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Get the webhook request data
    request_data = request.get_json()
    if validate_webhook_request(request_data, WEBHOOK_SECRET):
        # Process the issue report event
        response = process_issue_report(request_data)
        if response['status'] == 'fail':
            send_notification(request_data['issue']['title'], request_data['sender']['login'])
        print(f'Response: {response}')
    else:
        print('Invalid webhook request')

How the Script Works

The script uses the requests library to send requests to the GitHub API and the github library to interact with the GitHub API.

Here’s a breakdown of the script:

• The process_issue_report function checks if the issue report meets the criteria to be prevented (e.g., contains spam words). If it does, it returns a failure response.
• The contains_spam_words function implements the spam detection logic.
• The send_notification function sends a notification to the user using the GitHub API.
• The script validates the webhook request using the validate_webhook_request function.
• The script processes the issue report event and sends a notification to the user if the issue report is rejected.

Running the Script

To run the script, save the github_webhook.py file and execute it using Python:

python github_webhook.py

Configuring the Webhook URL

To receive the webhook requests, you’ll need to configure a webhook URL that points to your script. You can use a service like ngrok or localhost.run to expose your local development environment to the internet.

For example, if you’re using ngrok, you can start it with the following command:

ngrok http 8080

This will create a temporary webhook URL that you can use in your GitHub webhook settings.

Testing the Script

To test the script, create a new issue report on your GitHub repository and add some spammy content to the title or body. If your script is working correctly, the issue report should be rejected and a notification should be sent to the user.

Scenario	Expected Outcome
Issue report contains spam words	Issue report is rejected, and a notification is sent to the user
Issue report does not contain spam words	Issue report is posted, and no notification is sent

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve shown you how to prevent a GitHub issue report from being posted and send a notification to the user in Python using webhooks. By implementing this script, you can automate the process of filtering out irrelevant issue reports and improve the overall quality of your repository.

Remember to modify the spam detection logic to suit your specific needs and adjust the script to fit your workflow. Happy coding!

Frequently Asked Question

Need help with GitHub issue reports? We’ve got you covered! Here are some frequently asked questions on how to prevent a GitHub issue report from being posted and send notifications to users in Python: