Quick & GIT: Branch Protection: How to get the Check Required "default" to connect to a CICD (Quickbuild)

[ETHR3]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

Moving our Quickbuild CICD from a local datacenter to AWS. It attempts to keep our Branch Protection in place we see that what's in place for our old CICD location is under a branch protection "Check" object known as "default" .. not sure what else to call this thing and appears to have no settings or footprint within our QB/GIt integration (what IS "default").. having no idea where that object/identifier lives or how its being called. Creating a new PAT that only the new CICD in AWS uses does not appear to connect the Branch Protection. From what I'm told by GIT Copilot, the identifier/BP Object "default" needs to be called explicitly by name. In our new CICD we want to call it by a meaningful name (not default) so creating a new identifier "Quickbuild" doesn't appear to work. How does one go about connecting this very unintuitive and convoluted connection? Perhaps by only calling the rest API with the context of "Quickbuild" however the old CICD does not appear to be doing that, so... how IS that working... long pause..

[virgilhawkins00]

Hey! I went through something similar when migrating CI/CD systems. The "default" check you're seeing isn't actually a special GitHub object - it's just the status check name that your old Quickbuild instance was reporting to GitHub when it ran builds.

Here's what's happening: when your CI/CD runs and reports status back to GitHub, it sends a check name along with the status. That name is what shows up in branch protection. Your old Quickbuild was likely sending "default" as the check name in its API calls to GitHub.

To get your new AWS-based Quickbuild working with a better name like "Quickbuild":

1. Configure your new Quickbuild to send status checks - Look in your Quickbuild configuration for GitHub integration settings. You'll need to set it up to post commit statuses or check runs to GitHub using your new PAT.

2. Update the status check name - In Quickbuild's GitHub integration settings, there should be an option to specify what name to use when reporting status. Set this to "Quickbuild" instead of "default".

3. Update your branch protection rules - Once Quickbuild starts sending checks with the new name, go to your repo's Settings > Branches > Branch protection rules and add "Quickbuild" as a required status check. You can remove "default" once you confirm the new one is working.

The key thing to understand is that the check name comes from your CI/CD system, not GitHub. When Quickbuild makes API calls like POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/statuses/{sha} or creates check runs, it includes a context field (for statuses) or name field (for check runs) - that's what becomes the check name in branch protection.

If you need help finding the specific Quickbuild setting, their documentation usually has a section on GitHub integration where you can customize the status check identifier. Let me know if you need more specific pointers!

[ETHR3]

Thanks @virgilhawkins00 for the reply, greatly appreciated. It appears (in QB v15) that the only Git Integration settings that I see are either in the Plugins where there are no setting to speak of & the config for "Repositories". I do have setup (in Repositories for GitHub) with a PAT only used from our new CICD to pull every new PR. Unfortunately I'm not seeing where the status check is set. Still investigating as maybe I'm miss interrupting how some of the fields are utilized (with in the repro config). I'll let you know if I gain success! .. might need a few more specific pointers ..

Side note: with our CICD config, using the Webhook is sadly, not an option. With that said, our old and soon to be decommissioned CICD doesn't use the Webhook option either.

Cheers!
Thanks again @virgilhawkins00

[ETHR3]

Hi @virgilhawkins00 - any more pointers you may have?.. So far nothing I've tried has worked. When migrating all settings from the old to the new, all relevant settings match in terms of config. On the new side, where exactly is the new check name (quickbuild) to be placed in the "Repositories" step/config? I can confirm that every Pull Request notification is received with the config I've set up, that part works, PR's are being run in test every 5 min. I am using a new PAT (with all the corect perms) that only the new side uses but still no connection in terms of check Status. My new check object "quickbuild" has been set as the new requirement, mirroring the way the old "default" was used. That said, still not clear on how that works on the old side. I have use GIT Copilot (but ran out of alloted time) and in that was allot of curl scripting to setup and implementing a pre & post step in my config, that said, no such steps exist on the old side, that all seems to work in mysterious ways..

Thanks in advance @virgilhawkins00
Cheers!

[cipher20000]

The "default" entry you see in Branch Protection is almost certainly the status context/name your old QuickBuild instance was reporting to GitHub (not a hidden GitHub object). The CI decides that name when it posts statuses/checks — GitHub only displays it.

What to do:

Change QuickBuild’s commit-status context: In QuickBuild Admin → Repositories → edit the GitHub repository config and set the Commit Status Context / Context Label to Quickbuild (or any name you prefer). Then run a PR build and confirm GitHub shows that new name.

If QuickBuild UI doesn’t expose the field, add a small pre/post step in the job that explicitly calls the GitHub Statuses API for the PR commit SHA with "context":"Quickbuild". Example (replace placeholders):

curl -X POST "https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/statuses/$COMMIT_SHA"
-H "Authorization: token $PAT"
-d '{"state":"pending","target_url":"https://your.quickbuild/build/ID","description":"QuickBuild running","context":"Quickbuild"}'

Ensure PAT scopes & commit SHA: PAT must have repo:status/repo scopes (for private repos). Also make sure the status is posted for the latest HEAD commit SHA that branch protection expects.

Branch protection: After QuickBuild starts reporting with the new name, update Branch Protection → Required status checks and add Quickbuild (then you can remove default).

Optional (richer integration): If you want full Check Runs (Checks tab, annotations), use a GitHub App and the Checks API — PATs cannot create check runs.

TL;DR: default = the name QuickBuild used when posting status. Either change QuickBuild’s “context” field to Quickbuild or post statuses yourself (via the Statuses API) with the desired context. Once GitHub sees the new context, add it to Branch Protection.

[ETHR3]

Thank you @cipher20000 & @virgilhawkins00 ! you both have been very helpful, and now I have reached success!
Much appreciation!
Cheers all!
-E