Troubleshooting Unable to Access Organization with Third-Party Restrictions Enabled

Problem

You cannot add or access your GitHub organization in CircleCI after signing up. This occurs when GitHub third-party application access restrictions are enabled for your organization, which blocks CircleCI from accessing organization resources until an admin grants permission.

Solutions

Clear CircleCI Cookies and Re-authorize

Clearing your browser cookies allows you to create a fresh OAuth token with proper organization access:

Open Chrome Developer Tools by right-clicking the page and selecting "Inspect"
Navigate to the "Application" tab
Expand "Cookies" in the left sidebar
Select https://circleci.com
Delete all cookies for CircleCI

Grant Organization Access During Sign-Up

After clearing cookies, re-authenticate with GitHub and grant organization access:

Go to the CircleCI homepage (the "Login" button will now show as "Sign Up")
Click "Sign Up" to begin the authorization process
When prompted to authorize CircleCI, click "Grant" next to your organization name
Complete the authorization process

Request Admin Approval (For Non-Admins)

If you are not an organization admin, you need approval to access the organization:

Go to your GitHub Account Settings - Applications
Find CircleCI in the authorized applications list
In the "Organization access" section, click "Request" next to your organization
Wait for an admin to approve your request

Outcome

After completing these steps, your organization should appear in CircleCI and you can add projects from it. If you granted access yourself as an admin, you will see immediate access. If you requested access as a non-admin, you will see "Access request pending" until an admin approves it.

Additional Notes

GitHub organization owners control third-party application access restrictions
Each OAuth token is associated with a specific GitHub user account
Admin approval is required for non-admin users to access restricted organizations
This issue only affects organizations with third-party restrictions enabled

Additional Resources