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Adding organizations to your enterprise

Learn how to add organizations to your enterprise using three different methods.

Who can use this feature?

Enterprise owners

There are three ways to add organizations to your enterprise.

  • Create a new organization in your enterprise.
  • Invite an existing organization to join your enterprise.
  • Transfer an existing organization between enterprise accounts.

If you currently use GitHub Enterprise Cloud with a single organization, we encourage you to create an enterprise account. See "Creating an enterprise account."

Limitations if you use Enterprise Managed Users

  • Adding existing organizations to your enterprise is not possible if you use Enterprise Managed Users.
  • Existing organizations from an enterprise with managed users cannot be added to a different enterprise.

Changes when adding an existing organization

After you add an existing organization to your enterprise, the organization's resources remain accessible to members at the same URLs, and the following changes will apply.

  • Two-factor authentication (2FA): If required by the enterprise, members without 2FA will be removed.

  • Enterprise licenses: Members become part of the enterprise, and usage is billed to the enterprise account. You must ensure that the enterprise account has enough licenses to accommodate any new members. See "About billing for your enterprise."

  • Enterprise role management: Enterprise owners can manage their roles within the organization. See "Managing your role in an organization owned by your enterprise."

  • Enterprise policies: Any policies applied to the enterprise will apply to the organization. If the organization has write permissions for GitHub Actions, you must manually set write permissions for the enterprise. For more information, see "Managing GitHub Actions settings for a repository." For more information about managing organization-level permissions for GitHub Actions, see "Disabling or limiting GitHub Actions for your organization."

  • SAML SSO Configuration:

  • Trial enterprise: Certain features may be disabled if added to a trial enterprise. See "Setting up a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud."

  • GitHub Connect: If the organization was connected to GitHub Enterprise Server using GitHub Connect, adding the organization to an enterprise will not update the connection. GitHub Connect features will no longer function for the organization. To continue using GitHub Connect, you must disable and re-enable the feature. See "Managing GitHub Connect" in the GitHub Enterprise Server documentation.

  • GitHub Marketplace apps: If the organization uses billed GitHub Marketplace apps, the organization can continue to use the apps, but usage will be billable to the enterprise.

    • If your enterprise is billed via invoice, contact the app vendor and pay directly.
    • If your enterprise is billed via credit card or PayPal, billing continues automatically.
  • Sponsorships: Any sponsorships by the organization will be canceled.

  • Coupons: Any coupons will be removed from the organization. To reapply the coupon, contact our sales team.

Creating a new organization

New organizations you create within your enterprise account settings are included in your enterprise account's GitHub Enterprise Cloud subscription.

Enterprise owners who create an organization owned by the enterprise account automatically become organization owners. See "Roles in an organization."

During a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud, you can create up to three new organizations in your enterprise.

  1. In the top-right corner of GitHub, click your profile photo, then click Your enterprises.

  2. In the list of enterprises, click the enterprise you want to view.

  3. In the left sidebar, click Organizations.

  4. Above the list of organizations, click New organization.

  5. Under "Organization name", type a name for your organization.

  6. Click Create organization.

  7. Optionally, under "Invite owners", type the username of a person you'd like to invite to become an organization owner, then click Invite.

  8. Click Finish.

Inviting an existing organization

Enterprise owners can invite existing organizations to join their enterprise account.

During a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud, you can invite organizations to join your trial enterprise. You can invite organizations that are not currently owned by another enterprise. If an organization you want to invite is already owned by another enterprise, you must be an owner of both enterprise accounts and initiate an organization transfer. See "Transferring an existing organization."

After you invite the organization, and before an owner approves the invitation, you can cancel or resend the invitation at any time.

  1. In the top-right corner of GitHub, click your profile photo, then click Your enterprises.

  2. In the list of enterprises, click the enterprise you want to view.

  3. In the left sidebar, click Organizations.

  4. Above the list of organizations, click Invite organization.

  5. Under "Organization name", start typing the name of the organization you want to invite and select it when it appears in the dropdown list.

  6. Click Invite organization. The organization owners will receive an email inviting them to join the enterprise.

  7. After an organization owner has approved the invitation, navigate back to the Organizations tab of the enterprise settings.

  8. Under "Organizations", click X pending.

  9. To complete the transfer, next to the organization name, click Approve.

Transferring an existing organization

Enterprise owners can transfer existing organizations between enterprise accounts. You must be an enterprise owner of both enterprise accounts.

You cannot transfer an existing organization to or from an enterprise with managed users or an enterprise account that is currently enrolled in a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud.

  1. In the top-right corner of GitHub, click your profile photo, then click Your enterprises.

  2. In the list of enterprises, click the enterprise you want to view.

  3. In the left sidebar, click Organizations.

  4. Next to the organization you want to transfer, select the dropdown menu, then click Transfer organization.

    Screenshot of an organization in the organization list. A dropdown menu, labeled with the kebab icon, is expanded and the "Transfer organization" option is highlighted with an orange outline.

  5. Select the Select enterprise dropdown menu, start typing the name of the destination enterprise, and click the enterprise you want to transfer the organization to.

  6. Click Review transfer.

  7. To confirm the transfer, click Transfer organization.