Documentation

Everything you need to set up WhyLog and start capturing engineering decisions automatically.

What is WhyLog?

WhyLog automatically captures why engineering decisions were made from your GitHub and GitLab pull requests. When a PR is merged, WhyLog drafts an architectural decision record (ADR) from the PR context. Your team reviews and approves it from the dashboard or Slack.

GitHub tells you what changed. WhyLog tells you why. No manual documentation — decisions are captured as you ship.

Quick start

Get up and running in a few minutes:

  1. Create a free account at whylog.nubrotech.com/register
  2. Verify your email address (check your inbox or spam folder)
  3. Complete onboarding: create your organization and save your API key
  4. Go to Settings and connect GitHub (or GitLab)
  5. Add the repositories you want WhyLog to monitor
  6. Connect Slack so your team gets approval notifications
  7. Merge a pull request — your first decision draft will appear in Pending

Connect integrations

All integrations are managed from Settings after you sign in. WhyLog uses OAuth — you never paste tokens manually.

GitHub

  1. Open Settings → Integrations
  2. Click Connect GitHub and authorize WhyLog for your organization
  3. Once connected, click Discover repos to see available repositories
  4. Select repos to monitor — WhyLog installs webhooks automatically

GitLab

  1. Open Settings → Integrations
  2. Click Connect GitLab and authorize access
  3. Discover and add the projects you want to monitor

Slack

  1. Open Settings → Integrations
  2. Click Connect Slack and install the WhyLog app to your workspace
  3. Approval notifications are sent to your default Slack channel
  4. On Team and Growth plans, you can route each repo to a specific channel
Slack is optional but recommended — it lets approvers accept or reject decisions with one click without leaving Slack.

Add repositories

After connecting GitHub or GitLab, go to the Repositories section in Settings:

  • Click Discover repos to load repositories from your connected account
  • Select the repos you want WhyLog to watch and click Add
  • WhyLog monitors merged pull requests in those repos only
  • Remove a repo anytime — monitoring stops immediately
Write clear PR titles and descriptions. WhyLog uses that context to draft accurate decision records — better PR descriptions mean better ADRs.

How it works

The decision capture flow is fully automatic once your repos are connected:

  1. PR merged — A pull request is merged in a monitored repository
  2. AI draft — WhyLog analyzes the PR title, description, and metadata to draft an ADR
  3. Review — The draft appears in Pending Approvals and a Slack notification is sent (if connected)
  4. Approve or reject — A team member approves from the dashboard or Slack
  5. Searchable history — Approved decisions are stored and searchable via Ask Why
WhyLog does not store your source code. Only PR metadata (titles, descriptions, labels, file names) is processed.

Using the app

Decisions (Dashboard)

Your main view of all approved engineering decisions. Filter by repository, search by keyword, and export your decision log. Stats at the top show total, approved, pending, and connected repos.

Pending Approvals

Review AI-drafted decisions before they go live. Open a pending item to read the full draft, edit if needed, then approve or reject. This is where new decisions land after a PR merge.

Ask Why

Search your entire decision history in natural language. Ask questions like "why did we switch to GraphQL?" or "what caching decisions have we made?" — WhyLog finds relevant approved decisions across all your repos.

Settings

Manage integrations, repositories, your organization profile, and billing. This is also where you regenerate your API key if needed.

Team management

Invite teammates from the Team page. Each member gets access to your organization's decisions, pending queue, and settings (based on their role). New members should connect their own GitHub account in Settings if they need to manage integrations.

  • Invite by email from the Team page
  • Members share the same decision log and repositories
  • Anyone on the team can approve pending decisions

Billing

WhyLog offers a free Starter plan plus paid Team and Growth tiers. View plans on the pricing page.

  • Upgrade or change plans from Settings → Billing
  • Payments are processed securely by Paddle
  • Cancel anytime — paid features stay active until the end of your billing period
  • Refunds available within 14 days of initial purchase — see the refund policy

Get help

Can't find what you need? Visit our support page for FAQs and contact options, or email support@whylog.nubrotech.com.

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