Build a GitHub agent with the eve extension

eve is Vercel's filesystem-first agent framework: an agent is a folder with instructions, a model config, and tools. @github-tools/eve-extension packages all 42 GitHub tools as a mountable eve extension — a single pnpm add and a one-line mount under agent/extensions/, no CLI setup, and no direct SDK import in agent/tools/.

The whole agent

Three files. That's the entire thing:

You are a GitHub assistant. Use the GitHub tools to inspect repos, PRs, and issues.
Ask before merging or closing anything destructive.

import { defineAgent } from 'eve'

export default defineAgent({
  model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-5',
})

import githubExtension from '@github-tools/eve-extension'

export default githubExtension({
  preset: 'maintainer',
})

Run it:

npx eve dev

You now have a GitHub agent that can read repos, review PRs, triage issues, and manage CI — with every write operation gated behind durable approval by default. The full example lives in examples/eve-extension-agent/ (or pnpm dev:eve-extension-agent from the monorepo root).

Install

pnpm add @github-tools/eve-extension

eve is a required peer dependency (which itself requires ai v7):

pnpm add eve

You still need GITHUB_TOKEN (or a Vercel Connect connector, below). See Installation.

Mount it

Drop a file under agent/extensions/ — the filename becomes the tool namespace:

import githubExtension from '@github-tools/eve-extension'

export default githubExtension({
  connector: 'github/my-connector', // or token: process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN
  preset: 'code-review',
  requireApproval: {
    addPullRequestComment: ({ toolInput }) => toolInput?.owner !== 'vercel-labs',
  },
})

Tools are exposed to the model as <namespace>__<toolName>, where <namespace> comes from the mount file's name — agent/extensions/github.ts yields github__listPullRequests, github__createIssue, and so on.

code-review is used above (rather than maintainer) because it pairs cleanly with a Connect connector — maintainer and repo-explorer include gist tools, and GitHub only grants gist access to user access tokens, never the installation tokens Connect mints, so gist calls 403 over Connect (see Tokens & Auth). The requireApproval predicate above is a real gate, not a no-op: write tools already require approval by always() by default, so { mergePullRequest: true } would change nothing — a predicate is what actually narrows or loosens the default.

Pick exact tools

preset scopes to one of five predefined groups. To hand-pick tools instead — standalone, or layered on top of a preset — use include and exclude:

import githubExtension from '@github-tools/eve-extension'

export default githubExtension({
  include: ['getRepository', 'listPullRequests', 'mergePullRequest'],
})

include adds to preset — the effective set is the union of both, so you can pull in a tool a preset is missing without switching to a bigger preset:

export default githubExtension({
  preset: 'code-review', // read-only PR review tools
  include: ['createIssue'], // + one write tool code-review doesn't include
})

exclude removes tool names from whatever preset + include resolved to — useful for dropping a couple of tools you don't want exposed from a larger preset:

export default githubExtension({
  preset: 'maintainer', // all 42 tools
  exclude: ['createRepository', 'deleteGist'], // minus these two
})

Config schema

Durable approval, done right

Approval pauses the session durably until a human responds, and policies are expressive:

Default (no requireApproval): all write tools → always(). Unlisted write tools keep the always() fail-safe default. Read tools never require approval. Details: Control write safety.

Vercel Connect

Skip GITHUB_TOKEN entirely and mint the token from a Connect connector — pass connector directly in the mount config, no separate connectGithubTools import needed:

import githubExtension from '@github-tools/eve-extension'

export default githubExtension({
  connector: 'github/my-connector',
  preset: 'code-review',
})

Unlike the deprecated direct import, no build.externalDependencies workaround is needed in agent/agent.ts — the extension is pre-built via eve extension build and loaded through eve's extension mechanism rather than inlined from a workspace-linked source import.

@vercel/connect is an optional peer dependency of the extension — install it only when using connector. connector also accepts a () => string | Promise<string> resolver for picking a connector per environment or tenant — see dynamic connector selection. See Vercel Connect for the connector setup checklist and multi-tenant scoping.

Idempotency

eve replays completed steps but re-runs steps interrupted mid-execution:

Gate non-idempotent writes behind always() or once() where replay safety matters.

Migrating from the direct import

If you have an existing agent using @github-tools/sdk/eve directly in agent/tools/, move to the extension in three steps:

1. pnpm add @github-tools/eve-extension and remove the now-unused direct eve/ai/zod install if nothing else in the agent needs them.
2. Delete agent/tools/github.ts and create agent/extensions/github.ts exporting githubExtension({ ...same options... }) instead of createGithubTools({ ...same options... }). Options (preset, include, exclude, requireApproval, overrides, author/committer/coAuthors, token) are unchanged.
3. If you used connectGithubTools from @github-tools/sdk/connect/eve, drop it — pass connector directly to githubExtension instead.
4. If you cherry-picked single-tool factories (e.g. listPullRequests() exported alone from its own file), replace each agent/tools/*.ts file with an include: [...] list in the single agent/extensions/github.ts mount — see Pick exact tools.

One behavior change to be aware of: tool names gain the <namespace>__ prefix described above, so update any code that references tool names by their bare string (requireApproval and include keys stay bare — only the exposed model-facing tool name gets the prefix).

eve extension vs direct import vs AI SDK vs Workflow SDK

External references

• How to build a GitHub agent with eve and GitHub tools
• eve documentation
• eve extensions
• Dynamic capabilities (bundled with the eve package)
• Human-in-the-loop