Git Model Versioning

When enabled, the Sidecar commits the promoted model's files to a Git repository on each approved promotion — giving you a human-readable, diffable history of governed models alongside the Tower audit trail. It is disabled by default and opted into per deployment.

Optional and best-effort

Git versioning is an extension of the promotion flow, not a gate. When it is disabled or the Git host is unreachable, the step logs and no-ops — the approved promotion still completes. Governance never depends on the Git push succeeding.

How it works

On approval, the integration:

1. Requests the promoted unit's files from Tower Core through an authenticated callback (the Sidecar holds no model files itself; retrieval is scoped to the workflow's own promotion).
2. Commits those files to the configured repository under a folder named after the unit, mirroring the package contents (for example, MyUnit/loan_pre_qualification.dmn).
3. Makes the unit folder reflect exactly the promoted package — files removed from the model are removed from the folder, while the rest of the repository is left untouched.
4. Returns the commit reference, which is included in the promotion-completion message.

The unit folder is the unit of history: each promotion overwrites it, and the version-to-version history lives in the Git log.

How to enable Git versioning

Turn on the integration for a deployment.

Prerequisites:

• A Git repository to receive the commits, in owner/repo form.
• An access token with Contents: read and write on that repository.

Provide the token through a secret, never in an image

Supply …GITHUB_TOKEN only through your secret manager / environment. A token committed to a repository will be detected and revoked by the Git host.

Steps:

1. Set the Git variables on the Sidecar (see Configuration):
   • ALETYX_DC_TOWER_SIDECAR_GITHUB_ENABLED=true
   • ALETYX_DC_TOWER_SIDECAR_GITHUB_TOKEN=<token>
   • ALETYX_DC_TOWER_SIDECAR_GITHUB_REPO=<owner/repo>
   • ALETYX_DC_TOWER_SIDECAR_GITHUB_BRANCH=<branch> (defaults to main)
   • Optionally …GITHUB_COMMITTER_NAME / …GITHUB_COMMITTER_EMAIL.
2. Restart the Sidecar so it picks up the new configuration.

Verify: Approve a test promotion, then confirm a new commit appears on the target branch with the unit's files under the unit folder, and that the promotion-completion message includes the commit reference.

How to disable Git versioning

Stop committing without removing the rest of the configuration.

Steps:

1. Set ALETYX_DC_TOWER_SIDECAR_GITHUB_ENABLED=false (or leave it unset).
2. Restart the Sidecar.

Verify: Approved promotions complete normally, the completion message reports no commit, and no calls are made to the Git host.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
Completion message shows no commit	…GITHUB_ENABLED is false, or the token/repo is unset.
Commit step logs an authorization error	Token lacks Contents: read and write on the target repository, or was revoked.
Files land in the wrong place	The unit name resolves to an unexpected folder; confirm the promotion's unit.
Nothing committed for a unit	The promoted package contained no files; check the source environment's version.

Credentials hygiene

Rotate the access token periodically and whenever it may have been exposed. Because the integration is per-deployment, different environments can use separate tokens scoped to different repositories.