Adding a collaborator to my free GitHub account?

161
votes

I created a GitHub account, and I want to give someone write access so he can push just like me, there is a way to add a collaborator with a free plan? If not, what can I do? (besides buying a paid account, which I'll do in the future)

9
gitversion-controlgithub
With a free account you can only have public repos ;) - klaustopher
@klaustopher, Is there any way to purchase just one private repo? Or is the only way to pay a monthly fee perpetually? - Pacerier
@Pacerier No, this is not possible. You pay 7$ a month and get unlimited private repos - klaustopher
As of January 2019, free users can have unlimited private repos. - Thomas
@Thomas yes but only 3 collaborators in a free account. - Artemix

9 Answers

124
votes

Go to Manage Access page under settings (https://github.com/user/repo/settings/access) and add the collaborators as needed.

Screenshot:

enter image description here

91
votes

Clear Instructions On How to Add A Collaborator - 2020 Update

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Let's put that to the test:

Picture Instructions (Click to Zoom in):

Picture Instructions

.......and videos/gifs are worth another thousand more:

Gif Instructions (Click to Zoom in):

Hopefully the pictures/gif make it easier for you to configure this!

enter image description here

53
votes

It is pretty easy to add a collaborator to a free plan.

  1. Navigate to the repository on Github you wish to share with your collaborator.
  2. Click on the "Settings" tab on the right side of the menu at the top of the screen.
  3. On the new page, click the "Collaborators" menu item on the left side of the page.
  4. Start typing the new collaborator's GitHub username into the text box.
  5. Select the GitHub user from the list that appears below the text box.
  6. Click the "Add" button.

The added user should now be able to push to your repository on GitHub.

10
votes

In the repository, click Admin, then go to the Collaborators tab.

7
votes

FYI for future readers. The instructions above are outdated, in particular step 2:
2. Click on Settings button

6
votes

project link:

https://github.com/your_username/you_repo_name/settings

you will get a page like this, go to Collaborator and add collaborator Check setting tab

6
votes

Yes the set of instructions above are outdated. For the new GitHub the Settings button must be clicked.

Also the person you try to add as a collaborator must have an existing GitHub account. In other words he should have signed up on GitHub first because it is not possible to send collaboration requests merely by typing in the email address of the collaborator.

4
votes

2020 update

It's called Manage access now.

Go to your private repo, click the Settings tab, and choose Manage access from the menu on the left. You are allowed up to three collaborators with the free plan.

Note: If the account is an individual account you can still add collaborators that can do a variety of tasks, but a collaborator can't (as far as I know) sign the app in Xcode and submit it to the app store. You need an organization account for that kind of collaborator.

3
votes

Please note that Github now allows an unlimited number of collaborators even on a free account. See https://github.com/pricing.