What is a "bot account" on github?

Question

I am reading some docs that discuss how to authenticate on GitHub for a particular repo. They say "You'll likely want to use a bot account for this." (Docs are written by a Github employee). What is a bot account? How do I get one?

Answer 1

Look at this section, "User Accounts / What's the difference between user and organization accounts?"

User accounts are intended for humans, but you can give one to a robot, such as a continuous integration bot, if necessary.

In other words, a "User account" can be for a "person" (the normal case), but it can also be used by an automated process (a "bot").

Which is precisely how Benbalter is using GitHub in the Change Agent project you cited above.

Q: How do I get one?

A: A "bot account" is just another Github user account. You create it exactly as you would any other Github user account.

Answer 2

In the Account Requirements section of github's Terms of Service there's a definition of a machine account:

We do permit machine accounts:

A machine account is an account set up by an individual human who accepts the Terms on behalf of the account, provides a valid email address, and is responsible for its actions. A machine account is used exclusively for performing automated tasks. Multiple users may direct the actions of a machine account, but the owner of the account is ultimately responsible for the machine's actions. You may maintain no more than one free machine account in addition to your free personal account.

Simply said, you can have your normal "human" account and an additional "machine" account for performing automated tasks.