GitHub destination — setup and expected output

Commit enriched activities as version-controlled Markdown files to your own GitHub repository.

📅 9 February 2026

Overview

The GitHub destination commits your enriched activities as Markdown files to a Git repository. After an activity passes through your FitGlue pipeline — with boosters adding AI descriptions, workout summaries, heart rate zones, muscle heatmaps, and more — the full enriched result is committed to your chosen repository as a structured, version-controlled document.

This is particularly valuable for developers and data-conscious athletes who want to own their training data in a format they control. Every commit creates a permanent, diffable record. You can build a GitHub Pages training log, run data analysis scripts against your activity archive, or simply maintain a fitness journal with full version history.

The destination writes Markdown files with YAML frontmatter metadata and the full enriched description. It supports both CREATE (new activities) and UPDATE (re-enriched activities) operations, and preserves any content you add below a special <!-- fitglue:end --> marker.

Configuration

Repository (repo)

The full owner/repo name of the target repository where enriched activities will be committed.

  • Required: Yes
  • Default: (none — must be provided)
  • What it controls: Determines where FitGlue commits files. The authenticated GitHub account must have write (push) access to this repository.
  • Format: Exact match required. Case-sensitive. For organisation repositories, use the full path (e.g. my-org/fitness-archive).
  • Edge case: If the repository doesn't exist or the user lacks write access, the upload fails with a clear error message visible in Dashboard → Activities → Pipeline Run.

Folder Path (folder)

Root folder within the repository where activity files are committed.

  • Required: No
  • Default: workouts/
  • What it controls: Sets the base directory for the date-based folder hierarchy. The full path for a committed file looks like: {folder}/{YYYY}/{MM}/{YYYY-MM-DD-activity-slug}/activity.md.
  • Trailing slash: Normalised automatically — workouts, workouts/, and ./workouts/ all behave the same.
  • Non-existent folders: Created automatically on the first commit. You do not need to pre-create the folder structure.
  • Same folder as source: If you use the same repository and folder for both source and destination, loop prevention handles it automatically (see below).

Output & How Content Appears

Each enriched activity is committed as a single Markdown file, placed inside a date-organised folder hierarchy.

Folder structure

workouts/
├── 2026/
│   ├── 01/
│   │   ├── 2026-01-15-morning-run/
│   │   │   └── activity.md
│   │   └── 2026-01-16-strength-session/
│   │       └── activity.md
│   └── 02/
│       └── 2026-02-08-morning-run/
│           └── activity.md

The subfolder name is generated from the activity date and a URL-safe slug of the title. Each activity gets its own directory, which makes it easy to later add related files (photos, GPX exports, extra notes) alongside the Markdown.

File contents

Each committed file has three sections:

1. YAML frontmatter — structured metadata for programmatic access:

---
title: "Morning Run"
type: ACTIVITY_TYPE_RUNNING
date: 2026-02-08T07:30:00Z
source: SOURCE_STRAVA
activity_id: "abc123"
pipeline_id: "pipe456"
enrichments: [workout_summary, heart_rate_zones, streak_tracker]
tags: [morning, long-run]
---

2. Enriched body — the heading, full description with all booster output (workout stats, HR zone breakdown, recovery advice, streak counts, etc.), rendered as Markdown.

3. <!-- fitglue:end --> marker — everything below this HTML comment is treated as user-owned content. FitGlue never modifies or replaces content below the marker, even when updating the activity. This is where you can add personal notes, photos, or any other content.

Example committed file

---
title: "Morning Run"
type: ACTIVITY_TYPE_RUNNING
date: 2026-02-08T07:30:00Z
source: SOURCE_STRAVA
activity_id: "abc123"
pipeline_id: "pipe456"
enrichments: [workout_summary, heart_rate_zones, streak_tracker]
tags: [morning, long-run]
---

# Morning Run

🏃 Workout Summary
• Distance: 5.2 km
• Duration: 28:00
• Pace: 5:23/km
• Calories: 320

❤️ Heart Rate Zones
• Zone 1 (Recovery): 2:00
• Zone 2 (Aerobic): 12:00
• Zone 3 (Tempo): 10:00
• Zone 4 (Threshold): 4:00

🔥 Streak Tracker
• Running streak: 15 days 🔥

<!-- fitglue:end -->

Personal notes: New shoes feel great on uphills.

Commit metadata

  • Author: "FitGlue Bot" (bot@fitglue.com)
  • New activities: Add {Activity Title} — {Date}
  • Updates: Update {Activity Title}

The "FitGlue Bot" identity is critical — it's how the source handler identifies and ignores FitGlue's own commits for loop prevention.

Updates and content preservation

When FitGlue updates an existing activity (e.g. a booster runs again with new data, or a delayed enrichment like Parkrun results arrives), it:

  1. Fetches the current file's content and SHA from the repository
  2. Replaces everything above the <!-- fitglue:end --> marker with the new enriched content
  3. Preserves everything below the marker untouched
  4. Commits the updated file with a new SHA

If you've written personal notes, embedded images, or added any other content below the marker, it survives every update.

Tier & Access

The GitHub destination is included in the Hobbyist (free) tier. No Athlete subscription is required.

The isPremium flag is false, so this destination has no Athlete badge or premium sorting in the plugin browser.

Setup

  1. Connect your GitHub account — Navigate to Dashboard → Connections, find GitHub, and click Connect. See Connecting GitHub for full details.

  2. Create or edit a pipeline — Go to Dashboard → Pipelines. Either create a new pipeline or edit an existing one.

  3. Add GitHub as a destination — In the pipeline wizard, select GitHub under destinations. Enter:

    • Repository: The full owner/repo name (e.g. your-username/fitness-log)
    • Folder Path: Where to commit files (defaults to workouts/)

  4. Trigger an activity — Your next activity from the pipeline's source will be enriched and committed to the repository automatically.

  5. Verify the commit — Check your repository on GitHub. You should see a new commit by "FitGlue Bot" containing the activity Markdown file in the configured folder.

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Commit not appearing — Check the pipeline run status in Dashboard → Activities → Pipeline Run. If it shows "Failed", the error message will indicate whether it's a permissions issue (HTTP 403 — wrong OAuth scope or missing write access) or a configuration error (HTTP 404 — repository not found).

HTTP 401 Unauthorized — The GitHub OAuth token has been revoked. GitHub OAuth tokens don't expire on their own, but they are revoked if you remove FitGlue from GitHub Settings → Applications → Authorized OAuth Apps. Reconnect via Dashboard → Connections → GitHub → Connect.

Wrong folder structure — Verify the folder path is correct. Remember the full committed path is {folder}/{YYYY}/{MM}/{YYYY-MM-DD-slug}/activity.md. If you set the folder to workouts/ and see files appearing at workouts/workouts/, the folder value may be duplicated in your configuration.

Content below marker being overwritten — Ensure the marker is exactly <!-- fitglue:end --> on its own line with no extra whitespace or characters. If the marker is malformed or missing, FitGlue cannot detect user content and will replace the entire file.

Merge conflicts — FitGlue uses the GitHub Contents API, which operates at the file level. If you manually edit a file at the same time FitGlue tries to update it, one operation may fail with a SHA mismatch. FitGlue fetches the latest SHA before each write to minimise this, but rapid concurrent edits can still collide. FitGlue will retry once automatically.

Activities appearing as new instead of updating — Updates match by file path. If the activity title changes between the original commit and the update, the slug changes, resulting in a new file path. The old file remains in the repository (it's not deleted). To force an update to an existing file, ensure the title stays consistent.

Rate limiting — GitHub's API allows up to 5,000 requests per hour for authenticated users. Under normal usage this is never a concern, but if you batch-import hundreds of activities simultaneously, some commits may be rate-limited. FitGlue handles this by queuing and retrying.

Dependencies

  • Required integration: GitHub connection (OAuth with repo scope)
  • Write access: The authenticated GitHub account must have push access to the target repository
  • Works well with: Any combination of boosters — all booster output is included in the committed Markdown

Related

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