diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index d4113d70..818c06ca 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 name: "Conversation Rewards"
 description: "Compute rewards for contributors' discussion on issues that are closed as complete."
+inputs:
+  authentication_token:
+    description: "The GitHub authentication token"
+    required: true
 outputs:
   result: # id of output
     description: "The result of a event handler"
@@ -9,6 +13,6 @@ runs:
   steps:
     - run: |
         yarn --cwd ${{ github.action_path }} --production=true
-        yarn --cwd ${{ github.action_path }} start
+        yarn --cwd ${{ github.action_path }} start --auth ${{ inputs.authentication_token }}
       id: main
-      shell: bash
\ No newline at end of file
+      shell: bash
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 05ac77a2..02c8c1ee 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@
   ],
   "dependencies": {
     "@octokit/rest": "^20.0.2",
-    "dotenv": "^16.3.1"
+    "dotenv": "^16.3.1",
+    "yargs": "^17.7.2"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@commitlint/cli": "^18.4.3",
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@
     "@cspell/dict-software-terms": "^3.3.17",
     "@cspell/dict-typescript": "^3.1.2",
     "@types/node": "^20.10.0",
+    "@types/yargs": "^17.0.32",
     "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^6.13.1",
     "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^6.13.1",
     "cspell": "^8.3.2",
diff --git a/src/get-authentication-token.ts b/src/get-authentication-token.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d7205d65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/get-authentication-token.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import { Octokit } from "@octokit/rest";
+import { parse } from "yargs";
+
+let octokitInstance: Octokit | null = null;
+
+function getAuthenticationToken(): string {
+  const argv = parse(process.argv.slice(2));
+  return argv.auth as string;
+}
+
+function getOctokitInstance(): Octokit {
+  if (!octokitInstance) {
+    const auth = getAuthenticationToken();
+    octokitInstance = new Octokit({ auth });
+  }
+  return octokitInstance;
+}
+
+export { getOctokitInstance };
diff --git a/src/start.ts b/src/start.ts
index 0abc69ee..e722f698 100644
--- a/src/start.ts
+++ b/src/start.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,13 @@ function main(gitHubIssueId: GitHubIssue["id"]) {
   const pullRequest = getLinkedPullRequest(issue);
   const users = getUsers(issue, pullRequest);
 
+  const usersByType = {
+    assignees: users.filter((user) => user.isAssignee),
+    authors: users.filter((user) => user.isAuthor),
+    collaborators: users.filter((user) => user.isCollaborator),
+    remainder: users.filter((user) => user.isRemainder),
+  };
+
   /**
    * gather context
    * * this includes:
@@ -21,14 +28,12 @@ function main(gitHubIssueId: GitHubIssue["id"]) {
   * * * the users
    * * * * isAssignee?
    * * * * isAuthor?
-   * * * * isContributor?
+   * * * * isCollaborator?
    * * * * isRemainder?
    */
 }
 
-function getIssue(issueId: GitHubIssue["id"]) {
-  // ...
-}
+function getIssue(issueId: GitHubIssue["id"]) {}
 
 function getLinkedPullRequest(issue: GitHubIssue) {
   // ...
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index e6af98f2..f807d235 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1055,6 +1055,18 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/semver/-/semver-7.5.7.tgz#326f5fdda70d13580777bcaa1bc6fa772a5aef0e"
   integrity sha512-/wdoPq1QqkSj9/QOeKkFquEuPzQbHTWAMPH/PaUMB+JuR31lXhlWXRZ52IpfDYVlDOUBvX09uBrPwxGT1hjNBg==
 
+"@types/yargs-parser@*":
+  version "21.0.3"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/yargs-parser/-/yargs-parser-21.0.3.tgz#815e30b786d2e8f0dcd85fd5bcf5e1a04d008f15"
+  integrity sha512-I4q9QU9MQv4oEOz4tAHJtNz1cwuLxn2F3xcc2iV5WdqLPpUnj30aUuxt1mAxYTG+oe8CZMV/+6rU4S4gRDzqtQ==
+
+"@types/yargs@^17.0.32":
+  version "17.0.32"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/yargs/-/yargs-17.0.32.tgz#030774723a2f7faafebf645f4e5a48371dca6229"
+  integrity sha512-xQ67Yc/laOG5uMfX/093MRlGGCIBzZMarVa+gfNKJxWAIgykYpVGkBdbqEzGDDfCrVUj6Hiff4mTZ5BA6TmAog==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/yargs-parser" "*"
+
 "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@^6.13.1":
   version "6.21.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin/-/eslint-plugin-6.21.0.tgz#30830c1ca81fd5f3c2714e524c4303e0194f9cd3"
@@ -4639,7 +4651,7 @@ yargs-parser@^21.1.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yargs-parser/-/yargs-parser-21.1.1.tgz#9096bceebf990d21bb31fa9516e0ede294a77d35"
   integrity sha512-tVpsJW7DdjecAiFpbIB1e3qxIQsE6NoPc5/eTdrbbIC4h0LVsWhnoa3g+m2HclBIujHzsxZ4VJVA+GUuc2/LBw==
 
-yargs@^17.0.0:
+yargs@^17.0.0, yargs@^17.7.2:
   version "17.7.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yargs/-/yargs-17.7.2.tgz#991df39aca675a192b816e1e0363f9d75d2aa269"
   integrity sha512-7dSzzRQ++CKnNI/krKnYRV7JKKPUXMEh61soaHKg9mrWEhzFWhFnxPxGl+69cD1Ou63C13NUPCnmIcrvqCuM6w==