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name: github-project description: "GitHub repository setup and configuration. This skill should be used when creating new GitHub repositories, configuring branch protection or rulesets, setting up CODEOWNERS, or troubleshooting PR merge issues. By Netresearch."

GitHub Project Skill

GitHub repository setup, configuration, and best practices for collaboration workflows.

Core Workflow

To set up or configure a GitHub repository, follow these steps:

1. Consult the appropriate reference for your task
2. Copy and customize the relevant asset templates
3. Run scripts/verify-github-project.sh to validate configuration
4. Apply settings via GitHub UI or gh CLI

Using Reference Documentation

Repository Setup

When setting up repository structure, consult references/repository-structure.md for standard file layout, required documentation files, and directory conventions.

When migrating from master to main branch, consult references/branch-migration.md for step-by-step migration commands and branch protection updates.

Dependency Management

When configuring automated dependency updates, consult references/dependency-management.md for Dependabot and Renovate configuration patterns, auto-merge workflows, and update strategies.

GitHub Features

When working with sub-issues, consult references/sub-issues.md for GraphQL API usage, parent-child relationships, and issue hierarchy patterns.

When setting up automatic release labeling, consult references/release-labeling.md for PR labeling workflows, release categorization, and changelog automation.

Running Scripts

Repository Verification

To verify GitHub project configuration against best practices:

Copyscripts/verify-github-project.sh /path/to/repository

This script checks:

• Repository documentation (README, LICENSE, SECURITY.md)
• Collaboration setup (CODEOWNERS, issue/PR templates)
• Dependency automation (Dependabot/Renovate, auto-merge)
• Release configuration

Using Asset Templates

Repository Documentation

To set up CODEOWNERS for code review assignments, copy assets/CODEOWNERS.template to .github/CODEOWNERS.

To add contribution guidelines, copy assets/CONTRIBUTING.md.template to CONTRIBUTING.md.

To configure security vulnerability reporting, copy assets/SECURITY.md.template to SECURITY.md.

Issue and PR Templates

To add a bug report template, copy assets/bug_report.md.template to .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md.

To add a feature request template, copy assets/feature_request.md.template to .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/feature_request.md.

To standardize PR descriptions, copy assets/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md.template to .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md.

Dependency Automation

To configure Dependabot, copy assets/dependabot.yml.template to .github/dependabot.yml.

To configure Renovate, copy assets/renovate.json.template to renovate.json.

Auto-Merge Workflows

To enable basic auto-merge for dependency updates, copy assets/auto-merge.yml.template to .github/workflows/auto-merge.yml.

To enable auto-merge with direct commits (no merge queue), copy assets/auto-merge-direct.yml.template to .github/workflows/auto-merge.yml.

To enable auto-merge with merge queue support, copy assets/auto-merge-queue.yml.template to .github/workflows/auto-merge.yml.

Release Automation

To set up automatic release labeling for PRs, copy assets/release-labeler.yml.template to .github/workflows/release-labeler.yml.

Go Project CI Checklist

When setting up CI for Go projects, ensure these GitHub configurations:

Merge Strategy & Signed Commits

When configuring repositories that require signed commits with clean history, consult references/merge-strategy.md for the recommended settings.

Quick Reference

For signed commits workflow (rebase locally + merge commit):

Workflow

Copy# 1. Developer rebases PR branch locally (signs commits)
git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main
git push --force-with-lease

# 2. Merge via merge commit (preserves signatures)
gh pr merge <number> --merge

Auto-Merge Compatibility

Important: When enabling auto-merge, select "Create a merge commit" strategy.

Related Skills

When implementing Go code patterns and CI/CD workflows, use the go-development skill.

When implementing OpenSSF Scorecard, SLSA provenance, or signed releases, use the enterprise-readiness skill.

When establishing Git branching strategies or conventional commits, use the git-workflow skill.

When conducting deep security audits (OWASP, CVE analysis), use the security-audit skill.

External Resources

When understanding GitHub Actions syntax, consult the GitHub Actions Documentation.

When configuring branch protection, consult the GitHub Branch Protection Guide.

When setting up Dependabot, consult the Dependabot Documentation.

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Contributing: https://github.com/netresearch/github-project-skill