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Charlie shows up in GitHub through two identities:
  • CharlieCreates is the GitHub App. It is Charlie’s primary GitHub authentication and action path for repository-scoped work.
  • CharlieHelps is the GitHub user. It supports GitHub UI workflows that expect a user account: mentions, PR review requests, assignments, and autocomplete.
Most teams use both. Install CharlieCreates on the repositories where Charlie should work, and invite CharlieHelps when you want people to interact with Charlie through GitHub’s mention, review request, assignment, and autocomplete UI.

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Comparison

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Why you may be asked to do both

GitHub Apps and GitHub users solve different setup problems:
  • The GitHub App is the right place to grant scoped repository access. It lets your team decide exactly which repositories Charlie can access and is the primary path Charlie uses to read code, push commits, open pull requests, and respond to GitHub events.
  • The GitHub user makes Charlie work in GitHub surfaces that are built around people: @ mentions, assignees, PR review requests, and autocomplete.
If support or onboarding asks you to install CharlieCreates and invite CharlieHelps, it is because the workflow needs both the repo-scoped app permission path and the user-shaped GitHub UI path. Inviting CharlieHelps does not replace installing CharlieCreates on the repositories where Charlie should operate.

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Setup guidance

  • Install CharlieCreates on every repository where Charlie should review PRs, open PRs, push commits, or respond to GitHub-routed events.
  • Invite CharlieHelps when your team wants to mention Charlie, request Charlie’s review, assign issues or PRs to Charlie, or find Charlie in GitHub autocomplete.
  • If Charlie cannot access or change a repository, check the CharlieCreates app installation first.
  • If people cannot mention, assign, or request a review from Charlie, check that CharlieHelps is available in the repository or organization.
For end-to-end setup, see Installation. For trigger and response issues, see Troubleshooting.