---
date: 2021-02-21T14:41:04.750-08:00
category:
  - git-bug
  - moaparty
  - git
  - GitLab
---

I get excited when I have a chance to try new software and...it just works![^1] That was the case with [[git-bug]]. It's a bug tracker that is fully embedded in git. You use the same git repo that you are using for code development to track and update bugs and issues.

On [[MacOS]], `brew install git-bug` and you're up and running. 

`git bug user create` will setup your local user. It will read from your local git settings for full name and email address. The only other thing you'll need is a full link to an avatar image -- the picture that represents you.

Next up is setting up bridges. git-bug supports [[GitLab]], [[GitHub]], [[JIRA]], and minor support for [[Launchpad]], as well as custom implementations.

The [[Moa Party]] project is what I'm going to experiment using git-bug on, which we host on [[GitLab]]. You run `git bug bridge configure` and walk through a terminal interface to fill out your GitLab server details (yes, you can use it with self-hosted GitLab instances), as well as your personal login and an access token.

When you create a personal access token, you'll need to give it api access permission, which pretty much can do everything on your behalf. I initially created a token without that access, and had a heck of a time figuring out how to fix that. Turns out, go into your local `~/.gitconfig` and delete the token and identity with the wrong permissions. And, `git-bug bridge rm` the original bridge you created with the wrong token, then you can `git-bug bridge configure` a new default.

And now, unfortunately, I nuked identities using the Makefile (and found [@agentofuser in the issues from a couple of years ago](https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug/issues/230)) and am currently in a state where I can't create a new identity.

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OK, I got it working through the age old trick of ... downloading a new copy of the repo and setting it up again. 

There is a recent (7 days ago) [issue thread](https://github.com/MichaelMure/git-bug/issues/366) that seems to indicate the GitLab API has been improved and this can be working again. git-bug itself works, and I managed to import the existing GitLab issues, but I can't push changes to the GitLab issues.

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Since the [[Agora]] itself works with git a lot, we may actually be able to link git-bugs with the Agora itself in some way, but that's pretty deep git magic for me, since I don't fully understand how git-bug works / where it stores stuff in git.

[^1]: Of course, further down in this note, after a bunch of git surgery, things did not just work! But you can see the screenshots of things working in the [[git-bug]] page.