Your GitHub Project board fills up with cards like “make nav better” and nothing else. Someone still has to turn that wish into acceptance criteria, look at the repo, write a plan, and maybe open a PR. That unpaid product work is exactly what Aiden the Hard Way taught an agent to do — by wiring every sg_* resource by hand.

This post is the shortcut. Same outcome, one OpenTofu module.

  • Hard Way = understand every piece: provider, models, integration, agent, workflow, webhooks, schedule.
  • Easy Way = consume a public module that already assembled those pieces for you.

You do not have to read the Hard Way first. Come back to it only when something subtle breaks (there’s a map at the end of this post).

Who this is for

You’ll get the most out of this if:

  • You have (or can get) an Aiden / StackGen tenant and a GitHub Projects v2 board.
  • You’re comfortable running tofu apply and pasting a webhook URL into GitHub settings.
  • You want an agent that leaves evidence on the issue, not a black box that says “trust me.”

You do not need to write a system prompt, design a workflow, or understand webhook plumbing. The module ships all of that.

What to expect

By the end of this post you will have applied one module and wired three GitHub gestures. Then, for one Project item per run, Aiden does this on its own:

  1. Vague issue → Specify comment + Status hop
  2. Research against the repo (via GitHub APIs)
  3. Plan someone could implement
  4. Optional review PR (the agent opens it; you merge)
  5. Done — comment + Status hop after you merge

Every step lands as a comment on the issue, so the board tells the whole story. Merge stays a human decision, on purpose.

Want to see it before you build it? We dogfooded this on this very blog: navigation polish PR #31.

The rest of this post walks you through it in order: prerequisites → first demo → production shape → wiring → first run.

Prerequisites

  • An active Aiden / StackGen tenant (URL + token + org/project id)
  • GitHub PAT with repo, read:project, and project
  • OpenTofu ≥ 1.5 and StackGen provider >= 0.1.33, != 0.1.35, < 0.2.0
  • A Projects v2 board with columns that match Specify / Research / Plan / Done (names are configurable)

Pick your starting point

There are two ways to consume the module. Choose one:

You are… Use Why
Trying it for the first time, nothing shared yet First-time demo (below) Creates the OpenAI + GitHub vaults for you
Already running Aiden with shared models + a GitHub integration Production Reuses what you have — no duplicate vaults

Start with the demo. Move to the production shape once it works.

Step 1 — First-time demo (all-in-one)

No shared foundation yet? Use the wrapper that creates OpenAI + GitHub vaults, then the assistant:

module "github_project_assistant" {
  source = "github.com/sks/aiden-github-project-assistant//wrappers/all-in-one?ref=v0.1.0"

  openai_api_key      = var.openai_api_key
  github_token        = var.github_token
  default_project_url = "https://github.com/users/YOU/projects/1"

  webhook_repository_full_names = ["YOU/your-repo"]
  enable_implement              = true
  enable_status_poll_schedule   = true

  webhook_trigger_base_url = "${var.stackgen_url}/guild"
  webhook_trigger_org_id   = var.stackgen_project_id
}

Runnable sample: examples/complete in the module repo.

cd examples/complete
cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars   # fill secrets — never commit
tofu init && tofu plan && tofu apply

tofu output -raw webhook_ingress_payload_url
tofu output -raw webhook_token
tofu output -raw pr_webhook_ingress_payload_url

Step 1 (alternate) — Production (composable)

When you already have models and a GitHub integration:

module "github_project_assistant" {
  source = "github.com/sks/aiden-github-project-assistant?ref=v0.1.0"

  model_names                      = module.foundation.model_names
  existing_github_integration_name = module.github.integration_name

  default_project_url           = "https://github.com/users/YOU/projects/1"
  webhook_repository_full_names = ["YOU/your-repo"]

  enable_github_webhook       = true
  enable_implement            = true
  enable_pr_merged_webhook    = true
  enable_status_poll_schedule = true

  webhook_trigger_base_url = "${var.stackgen_url}/guild"
  webhook_trigger_org_id   = var.stackgen_project_id
}

Prefer this shape once foundation is shared — avoid a second OpenAI vault per board.

Step 2 — Wire the three gestures

After apply, tell GitHub how to reach Aiden. Three gestures, three wirings:

Gesture GitHub setting
Issue opened Repo → Webhooks → Payload URL = webhook_ingress_payload_url, events Issues
PR merged Second webhook (or same host with pr_webhook_ingress_payload_url), events Pull request
Card drag Already covered by enable_status_poll_schedule (Projects v2 drags are not Issues events)

Content type: application/json. Secret: webhook_token (or rely on apiKey in the URL).

Step 3 — Run it

  1. Open a vague issue on an allowlisted repo (or drag a card and wait for the poll).
  2. Watch Specify / Research / Plan comments appear; Status hops one column at a time.
  3. When implement is on, review the PR the agent opened — you merge.
  4. Done comment + Status hop after merge.

Board rules (same as Hard Way):

Do Don’t
One issue per run Boil the ocean
Comment evidence on the issue Chat-only findings
One Status hop per stage Silent jumps to Done
Human merge Auto-merge

When to read the Hard Way

Reach for Aiden the Hard Way when:

  • A drag “does nothing” (wrong trigger)
  • A comment body is literally @file.md (-F vs -f)
  • You want to know why the module creates a schedule and two webhooks

The module hides assembly. It does not hide product judgment.

Where to go

Building AI agents that leave receipts on the systems you already use? Find me on GitHub or LinkedIn.

🚀 We’re building AI-powered SRE at StackGen. If you’re tired of 3 AM pages and want AI agents that triage incidents, run diagnostics, and draft RCA reports — check out ai.stackgen.com and try our new SRE offering.

FAQ

What is the easiest way to run GitHub Project SDLC with Aiden?

Consume the public OpenTofu module sks/aiden-github-project-assistant. It creates the agent, workflow, guardrails, and optional webhooks/schedules for you.

Do I need to invent my own system prompt and webhook plumbing?

No. The module ships the persona, runbook, and trigger wiring. You pass tenant credentials, a Project URL, and toggles like enable_implement.

Should the agent merge the PR?

No. The easy path still keeps merge as a human decision. The agent opens a review PR; Done hops after you merge.

Where do I go if something subtle breaks?

Read Aiden the Hard Way for trigger semantics (issue opened vs card drag vs PR merge) and receipt/HITL lessons — then come back here for the module.