How to Push GitHub Leads to Help Scout

Why Push GitHub Signals into Help Scout

Help Scout is primarily known as a customer support platform, but it is also widely used by developer-focused companies as a lightweight CRM and shared inbox for sales conversations. When a developer stars your repo or mentions a competitor's keyword on GitHub, you want that context surfaced to the team member who will follow up — whether that is sales, DevRel, or founder-led outreach. Help Scout's conversation and contact model maps cleanly to a lead enrichment workflow.

GitLeads captures the signal (stargazer, keyword mention, issue discussion), enriches the developer profile with GitHub data (email, company, bio, top languages, follower count), and pushes it into Help Scout as a new conversation or updates the existing contact record. Your team sees the signal in the tool they already use, with full context.

Integration Architecture: GitLeads → Help Scout

GitLeads supports Help Scout integration through two paths:

• Native webhook destination — GitLeads POSTs enriched lead payloads to your webhook endpoint, which calls the Help Scout API
• Zapier/Make middleware — use GitLeads's Zapier or Make integration to route signals into Help Scout without code
• Direct API integration — for custom workflows, GitLeads exposes a webhook you handle server-side

Setting Up the Help Scout Webhook Integration

The most reliable path is a small webhook receiver that transforms GitLeads payloads into Help Scout API calls. Here is a complete example using TypeScript and the Help Scout Mailbox API:

import express from 'express';
import crypto from 'crypto';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

const HELPSCOUT_API_KEY = process.env.HELPSCOUT_API_KEY!;
const HELPSCOUT_MAILBOX_ID = process.env.HELPSCOUT_MAILBOX_ID!;
const GITLEADS_WEBHOOK_SECRET = process.env.GITLEADS_WEBHOOK_SECRET!;

// Help Scout API v2 base URL
const HS_BASE = 'https://api.helpscout.net/v2';

async function getHelpScoutToken(): Promise<string> {
  const res = await fetch(`${HS_BASE}/oauth2/token`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' },
    body: new URLSearchParams({
      grant_type: 'client_credentials',
      client_id: process.env.HELPSCOUT_CLIENT_ID!,
      client_secret: process.env.HELPSCOUT_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    }),
  });
  const data = await res.json();
  return data.access_token;
}

app.post('/webhooks/gitleads', async (req, res) => {
  // Verify GitLeads signature
  const sig = req.headers['x-gitleads-signature'];
  const expected = crypto
    .createHmac('sha256', GITLEADS_WEBHOOK_SECRET)
    .update(JSON.stringify(req.body))
    .digest('hex');
  if (sig !== `sha256=${expected}`) {
    return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid signature' });
  }

  const { lead, signal } = req.body;
  const token = await getHelpScoutToken();

  // Create a Help Scout conversation for the new lead
  const conversation = await fetch(`${HS_BASE}/conversations`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      subject: `GitHub signal: ${lead.name || lead.login} (${signal.type})`,
      mailboxId: parseInt(HELPSCOUT_MAILBOX_ID),
      type: 'email',
      status: 'active',
      customer: {
        email: lead.email || `${lead.login}@github.com`,
        firstName: lead.name?.split(' ')[0] || lead.login,
        lastName: lead.name?.split(' ').slice(1).join(' ') || '',
      },
      threads: [{
        type: 'note',
        text: [
          `**GitHub Signal: ${signal.type}**`,
          `Signal context: ${signal.context || 'New stargazer'}`,
          `Repo: ${signal.repo || 'N/A'}`,
          `GitHub: https://github.com/${lead.login}`,
          `Company: ${lead.company || 'Unknown'}`,
          `Bio: ${lead.bio || 'N/A'}`,
          `Top languages: ${lead.top_languages?.join(', ')}`,
          `Followers: ${lead.followers}`,
          `Location: ${lead.location || 'Unknown'}`,
        ].join('\n'),
      }],
      tags: ['gitleads', `signal:${signal.type}`],
    }),
  });

  const result = await conversation.json();
  res.json({ ok: true, conversationId: result.id });
});

app.listen(3000);

Using Zapier to Connect GitLeads to Help Scout

If you prefer no-code, use GitLeads's Zapier integration:

1. In GitLeads, go to Settings → Integrations → Zapier and copy your GitLeads Zapier trigger URL
2. In Zapier, create a new Zap with "Webhooks by Zapier" as the trigger (Catch Hook)
3. Paste your GitLeads trigger URL and activate it
4. Add Help Scout as the action app — choose "Create Customer" or "Create Conversation"
5. Map GitLeads fields: lead.email → Customer Email, lead.name → Customer Name, signal.context → Conversation Subject
6. Test with a live GitHub star event and activate the Zap

Enriching Help Scout Customer Records with GitHub Data

Beyond creating conversations, you can enrich existing Help Scout customer records with GitHub profile data. If a customer's email matches a GitHub lead email, update their record with company, location, top languages, and follower count as custom properties. This context is invaluable for support and sales conversations — your team knows they are talking to a Rust engineer at a Series B startup before the first reply.

Recommended Signal Configuration for Help Scout Teams

Not every GitHub signal warrants a Help Scout conversation. Configure GitLeads to route high-intent signals to Help Scout and lower-intent signals to a Slack channel for review:

• High-intent → Help Scout conversation: keyword mentions in issues with your product name, competitor comparison mentions, "pricing" or "alternatives" in discussions
• Medium-intent → Slack notification: new stargazers on your repo with 100+ followers and a company affiliation
• Low-intent → CSV or Clay: broad keyword matches without clear purchase context