Question

Installing Private Python Repo to App Platform

Posted on September 19, 2023
DigitalOcean App Platform GitHub Actions Python Modules
Asked by Core Aviation&Aerospace Solutions Ltd

I have a django project with the requirements.txt given so that app platform can install related dependencies. However, I also have 2 private repos that I built that need to be added. I can install them from the console by pip install git+https://github.com… but I would like to automate it so that I wouldn’t have to do it after each deployment.

How can I add this private repo installation into the app platform dependency install phase?

Submit an answer

This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.

You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!

These answers are provided by our Community. If you find them useful, show some love by clicking the heart. If you run into issues leave a comment, or add your own answer to help others.

Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• September 24, 2023

Hi there,

If you want to install packages from a private repository during the build phase in DigitalOcean’s App Platform, you’ll need to provide a method for the build environment to authenticate against the private repository.

One way of doing this would be to:

Generate a Personal Access Token:

For GitHub, you can generate a Personal Access Token (PAT) by going to your account’s Developer Settings → Personal access tokens → Generate new token. Ensure that the token has the necessary scopes for reading your private repositories.
Add the Personal Access Token to Your App Platform Environment:
- Navigate to your app in the DigitalOcean App Platform dashboard.
- Go to the Settings tab.
- Under the Environment Variables section, add a new environment variable. Name it something like GITHUB_PAT and paste your Personal Access Token as its value.
Modify your requirements.txt:

Use the environment variable in your requirements.txt file to install the private repo. Here’s a generalized format:
```
git+https://${GITHUB_PAT}@github.com/username/repo_name.git#egg=package_name
```
When App Platform builds your app, it will replace $GITHUB_PAT with the actual token, allowing pip to authenticate and download the private package.
Redeploy Your App:

With these changes, redeploy your app on the App Platform.