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Prerequisites for Access Requests

Last Updated: October 21, 2026

This page lists the documentation and eligibility requirements for requesting access to Platform tools and systems. Tools are listed alphabetically for easy reference.

Before submitting an access request

  • Complete Platform Orientation. You must complete all required orientation steps before requesting access to any tools or systems from the Platform Support team.

  • Have a VA email address. Requests submitted without a VA email address will be closed.

  • Meet the tool-specific prerequisites below. Some tools also require an E-QIP transmittal or proof of favorable adjudication.

Atlas/Vets.gov-write

Atlas is a comprehensive database designed to store and manage information about employees and their teams within multiple organizations.

Vets.gov-write is a VA GitHub Org team that's the primary source of being able to read and write the repos.

Prerequisites:

  • Part of the VA GitHub Organization

  • Team must exist in Atlas

Learn how to get added to Atlas and Vets.gov-write

Note: Access for vets.gov-write and Sidekiq expires every 90 days. To avoid losing your access, we recommend that you:

  • Set a reminder for yourself a week out before the expiration date

  • Our team reached out 72 hours prior to access expiration, please make sure you reply to this message and confirm you want to maintain access or you will lose it and our proactive ticket will be closed

  • Ensure you have GitHub email notifications on so that you are notified when our team reaches out to you about your expiration

This will both ensure that you maintain access to your tools to keep you working efficiently and will avoid unnecessary tickets to our team asking for us to restore access again. More information on requesting access to tools generally

AWS

Amazon Web Services is a cloud computing platform that provides a wide range of services and tools designed to support software development.

Prerequisites:

  • Needs to be in Atlas and/or on a Platform team roster

  • E-QIP Transmittal

Learn how to request access to AWS

DataDog

DataDog is a cloud-based monitoring and analytics platform designed to provide visibility into the performance, security, and health of the infrastructure, applications, and logs.

Prerequisites:

  • PIV Card and/or a temporary PIV exemption

  • If DevOps an Okta account is required

Learn how to request access to DataDog

Flipper

Flipper is a feature toggle management tool that can be used in both vets-api and vets-website. Use feature toggles to test out new functionality (applications, features, VA.gov content pages, Metalsmith) in the development, staging, or production environments for a set of users.

Prerequisites:

  • Needs to be in Atlas and/or on a Platform team roster

  • Part of the VA GitHub Organization

  • E-QIP Transmittal

Learn how to request access to Flipper

VA OIT VA.gov Teams (dsva.slack.com)

Slack is a cloud-based collaboration and communication platform designed to help teams work more effectively and efficiently.

Prerequisites:

  • A favorable adjudication is required before access will be granted

Learn how to get added to the VA OIT Slack

PagerDuty

PagerDuty is an incident management and response platform that enables users to respond to critical incidents effectively. This is also a Office of CTO@VA Slack integration.

Learn how to request access to PagerDuty

Sidekiq

Sidekiq is a framework for managing, processing, and monitoring background jobs via Redis.

Prerequisites:

  • Needs to be in Atlas and/or on a Platform team roster

  • Part of the VA GitHub Organization

  • E-QIP Transmittal (Production only)

Learn how to request access to Sidekiq

Note: Access for vets.gov-write and Sidekiq expires every 90 days. To avoid losing your access, we recommend that you:

  • Set a reminders for yourself a week out before the expiration date

  • Our team reaches out 72 hours prior to access expiration, please make sure you reply to this message and confirm you want to maintain access or you will lose it and our proactive ticket will be closed

  • Ensure you have GitHub email notifications on so that you are notified when our team reaches out to you about your expiration

This will both ensure that you maintain access to your tools to keep you working efficiently and will avoid unnecessary tickets to our team asking for us to restore access again.

TestRail

TestRail is a test management tool that helps software development teams organize, track, and manage their testing efforts.

Prerequisites:

  • Needs to be in Atlas and/or on a Platform team roster

  • Part of the VA GitHub Organization

  • Limited number of licenses, access may be postponed due to license availability

Learn how to request access to TestRail

VA GitHub Organization

Public resources for building on and in support of VA.gov.

Prerequisites:

  • A favorable adjudication is required before access will be granted

  • A VA.gov email address.

Learn how to get added to the VA GitHub Organization

Vets-API/ArgoCD

Vets API is a wrapper around VA data services with utilities and tools that support interaction with those services on behalf of a Veteran.

ArgoCD provides a UI for developers to see the application and manages the deployment by checking the desired state against the deployed state.

Prerequisites:

  • Needs to be in Atlas and/or on a Platform team roster

  • Part of the VA GitHub Organization

  • E-QIP Transmittal

Learn how to request access to Vets-API and ArgoCD


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