Using private GitHub package with ShinyApps.io

Question

I am having trouble making my ShinyApps.io account install a private GitHub dependency:

First, on ShinyApps.io, I have authorized private repository access:

Second, in my package that I am deploying, I have added the private dependency as a Remotes package in the DESCRIPTION file:

Remotes:
    myOrg/myDependency

Third, ShinyApps.io is and authorized application on GitHub under the repository settings.

However, when I attempt to manually deploy, ShinyApps is unable to find myDependency. I get an error that states:

Warning: Unable to determine the repository for package myDependency

What else do I need to check to be sure ShinyApps.io can reach and use my dependency

Answer 1

Going to focusing on getting this working and not necessarily the most elegant or right solution here.

1. Revoke access to shinyapps at https://github.com/settings/applications and re-establish the connection from shinyapps (make sure to include the organizational grant if your dependency repo is owned by an org and not you personally).

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2. Make the dependency install from github a source script as part of the beginning of your app launch?

Something like:

app.r

library(dplyr)
library(shiny)

source(private_dependency.R)

*app code here*

private_dependency.R

library(devtools)
install_github("hadley/private", auth_token = "abc")

Where auth_token is a value you generated at: https://github.com/settings/tokens

Comments on auth_token storage from the docs:

To install from a private repo, use auth_token with a token from https://github.com/settings/tokens. You only need the repo scope. Best practice is to save your PAT in env var called GITHUB_PAT.

Reference

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3. Support ticket? It just doesn't seem to me like anything about the github process here is verbose enough to know what's really going on.