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Repo Files for GitHub

Certain files can go into a .github/ directory inside a repository to affect how GitHub works with the repo.

https://docs.github.com/en/communities/setting-up-your-project-for-healthy-contributions/creating-a-default-community-health-file

Code Owners

  • CODEOWNERS: Specify specific files for users. Users will be automatically added as reviewers for any changes to these files.
    • GitHub Docs on CODEOWNERS
    • When a PR changes a file listed in CODEOWNERS, the specified users are automatically added as reviewers.
    • Useful for enforcing code reviews and ensuring domain experts review changes.
    • Format for CODEOWNERS: 
      # Format: <file path> <GitHub username or team>
# Assign @alice and @bob to review all changes
* @alice @bob

# Assign @frontend-devs team to review changes in the frontend directory
/frontend/ @frontend-devs

# Assign @backend-lead to review all .go files in the backend directory
/backend/*.go @backend-lead

# Assign @security to review security-related files
SECURITY.md @security

Templates

  • ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ (directory): Add custom issue templates in markdown for how to format issues.
    • e.g., ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md
  • PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md: Add a custom PR template in markdown for how to format pull requests.

Contributions

  • FUNDING.yml: Add sponsorship buttons for the current repository.
    • Example format: 
      github: ['your-github-username']
patreon: 'your-patreon-username'
open_collective: 'your-open-collective-slug'

GitHub Actions

  • .github/workflows/ (directory): A collection of yaml files for GitHub Actions workflows.
    • E.g., deploy.yml example: 
      name: Deploy
on: push
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: echo "Deploying"

tl;dr:

File Purpose
CODEOWNERS Assign reviewers for PRs
README.md Repository description
LICENSE Define repository licensing
.gitignore Ignore files from Git tracking
CONTRIBUTING.md Contribution guidelines
SECURITY.md Security policies
ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ Custom issue templates
PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md Guide PR submissions
FUNDING.yml Enable sponsorships
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md Community behavior rules
GOVERNANCE.md Open-source governance rules
.github/workflows/ GitHub Actions for automation