Setup · Updated May 15, 2025

Step 3 - Run the Script

Update your config to send issues to a different GitHub repo.

1. Run the Script

Execute the script using Python:

   python email-to-issue.py

The script will:

• Fetch unread emails from the configured inbox.
• Process the subject and body to clean up signatures and extract relevant information.
• Create GitHub issues using the GitHub API and attach files from the email (if any).

2. Monitor the Log File

Check the email_to_issue.log file for logs related to issue creation, including any errors or issues that might have occurred during execution.

Optional:

• Use cron for simple, scheduled execution
• Use systemd for long-running, resilient services

1. Crontab:

   Open your user’s crontab editor

   crontab -e
   

   The following example runs the script every 5 minutes

   */5 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /full/path/email-to-issue.py >> /var/log/email-to-issue.log 2>&1
   

   Explanation:

   • */5 * * * * → run every 5 minutes
   • /usr/bin/python3 → full path to the Python interpreter
   • /full/path/email-to-issue.py → full path to the script

   • /var/log/email-to-issue.log → append output to a log file

   • 2>&1 → redirect errors to the same log file

2. Systemd:

   Create a systemd service file

   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/email-to-issue.service
   

   Add the following configuration

   [Unit]
   Description=Email to GitHub Issue Service
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /full/path/email-to-issue.py
   WorkingDirectory=/full/path
   Restart=always
   User=yourusername
   EnvironmentFile=/full/path/.env
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

   Reload systemd and enable the service

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable email-to-issue
   sudo systemctl start email-to-issue
   

   View logs

   journalctl -u email-to-issue -f