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Installation

CICosts is a hosted SaaS platform—there's nothing to install locally. You just need to:

  1. Sign in with your GitHub account
  2. Install the CICosts GitHub App on your organizations
  3. Start tracking costs

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, ensure you have:

  • A GitHub account (personal or organization)
  • Admin access to the repositories you want to track
  • A GitHub Actions billing plan (Free, Pro, or Enterprise)
No billing data required

CICosts calculates costs based on workflow run metadata—we don't need access to your GitHub billing settings.

Sign Up Process​

Step 1: Create your CICosts account​

  1. Go to cicosts.dev/login
  2. Click "Sign in with GitHub"
  3. Authorize CICosts to access your GitHub account

We only request the minimum permissions needed:

  • Read access to your profile (email, username)
  • Read access to organization membership

Step 2: Install the GitHub App​

After signing in, you'll be prompted to install the CICosts GitHub App:

  1. Choose which organizations to install on
  2. Select repositories:
    • All repositories - Track everything (recommended)
    • Selected repositories - Choose specific repos
  3. Click Install

The GitHub App requires:

  • Read access to Actions (workflow runs, jobs)
  • Read access to Metadata (repository names)
We never access your code

CICosts only reads workflow metadata. We cannot see your source code, secrets, or repository contents.

Step 3: Wait for initial sync​

After installation, CICosts will:

  1. Fetch your recent workflow runs (up to 30 days)
  2. Calculate costs for each run
  3. Populate your dashboard

This usually takes 1-5 minutes depending on your workflow volume.

Verifying Installation​

To verify CICosts is working:

  1. Go to your CICosts Dashboard
  2. Check that your organizations appear in the org switcher
  3. Trigger a workflow run on any tracked repository
  4. Within minutes, the cost should appear on your dashboard

Troubleshooting​

"No organizations found"​

  • Ensure you've installed the GitHub App
  • Check that you have admin access to the organization
  • Try refreshing the page or signing out and back in

"No workflow data"​

  • CICosts only tracks runs after installation
  • Historical data (before installation) is fetched but may be limited
  • Ensure your workflows are running on GitHub Actions, not self-hosted runners

"Costs not updating"​

  • There may be a slight delay (1-2 minutes) between workflow completion and cost calculation
  • Check if the workflow completed successfully
  • Verify the GitHub App is still installed

Next: Connecting GitHub →