Contributor Setup

Skill: contributor-setup

Audits everything a first-time visitor or contributor touches — README, issue templates, CONTRIBUTING.md, and the surrounding community-health files — then creates what's missing and upgrades what falls short. Analysis always comes first: never overwrite an existing file without showing the user what's wrong with it.

Run this when asked to "make this repo contributor-friendly", prepare a project for open-sourcing, set up issue templates, or as the community slice of a repo maturity audit.

Phase 1 — Analyze

Start from GitHub's own community-profile scoring, then inspect each file locally:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/community/profile --jq '{health_percentage, files}'
ls .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ 2>/dev/null
ls .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md .github/CODEOWNERS CONTRIBUTING.md CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md SECURITY.md LICENSE README.md 2>/dev/null

Then judge quality, not just existence. Before writing anything, understand the project well enough to describe it accurately: read the manifest (package.json / pom.xml / …), the entry points, and any existing docs — the README must reflect what the project actually does, not a generic template.

README — evaluate against the target group (the developer who lands on the repo knowing nothing):

• Answers what is this and why should I care in the first screen (one-paragraph pitch, not an architecture essay)
• States the added value: which problem it solves, for whom, and why to pick it over the obvious alternatives — features alone don't answer this
• Install / quickstart that works copy-paste
• A "what you get" section — features, screenshot/GIF for anything visual
• Badges that carry information (CI status, version, license) — not badge walls
• Links to CONTRIBUTING.md and LICENSE near the end
• Reference shape (from wardley-maps-modeler): pitch → Install → What you get → structure/packages → Contributing → License

Issue templates — issue forms (.yml with a body: of typed fields), not legacy .md templates:

• .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ with at least a bug report and a feature request; a refactor template for code-heavy projects
• Each form: name, description, title prefix ('[Fix]: ', '[Feat]: '), labels, and required: true on the fields that make an issue actionable (bug: description + steps to reproduce + expected + actual; feature: summary + motivation)
• config.yml present (decide blank_issues_enabled with the user; add contact_links for discussions/security if applicable)

CONTRIBUTING.md — must let a stranger go from clone to merged PR without asking anything:

• Setup and inner loop as copy-paste commands (install, build, test, lint)
• What pre-commit hooks/CI actually enforce vs. what the contributor must run themselves
• Commit convention (e.g. Conventional Commits) with concrete examples
• PR process: branch naming, review expectations, where to ask questions
• Project-specific gotchas (build-before-test, version pins that must move together, …)

Everything else that matters:

• LICENSE — without it the project isn't legally usable; ask the user which (MIT default suggestion)
• .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md — short: summary, linked issue, checklist mirroring CONTRIBUTING requirements
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md — Contributor Covenant is the standard; needs a real contact address
• SECURITY.md — how to report vulnerabilities privately (GitHub private vulnerability reporting or an email)
• .github/CODEOWNERS — default * owner so PRs auto-request review (also required by the sibling skill dependabot-setup)
• Repo metadata via gh repo view — description and topics set; issues enabled

Phase 2 — Report

Summarize as a table before touching anything:

Propose a prioritized fix list and confirm scope with the user (AskUserQuestion) — especially: license choice, blank issues yes/no, CoC contact address, and who owns CODEOWNERS.

Phase 3 — Create or update

Work through the confirmed list. Rules:

• Update > replace. For existing files, fix the specific gaps from Phase 1; keep the author's voice and any project-specific content.
• Ground every claim. Commands in README/CONTRIBUTING must be the repo's real scripts (read package.json scripts, Makefile, CI workflow) — run the quickstart yourself if possible; never invent commands.
• Write for the target group. README sells the project to a potential user first, contributor second. CONTRIBUTING is all mechanics. Don't duplicate content between them — link.

Issue templates — ready-to-use forms ship with this skill in its reference/ folder (next to this SKILL.md):

• reference/fix.yml — bug report (label bug)
• reference/feat.yml — feature request (label enhancement)
• reference/refactor.yml — refactoring proposal (label refactor)
• reference/config.yml — issue chooser config (blank-issues toggle, optional contact links)

Copy them to .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/, replace the <project>/<owner> placeholders with the real repo, and adjust fields only where the project genuinely differs. For config.yml, settle blank_issues_enabled and any contact_links with the user per the Phase 1 checklist.

Ensure the labels exist — a form that references a missing label opens the issue silently unlabeled. Check and create what's missing:

gh label list --json name --jq '.[].name'
# default repos ship bug + enhancement, but usually not refactor:
gh label create refactor --description "Code refactoring or structural improvement" --color 6f42c1

Phase 4 — Verify

• Issue forms: valid YAML and valid schema — GitHub silently falls back to a blank issue on schema errors, so check field types against the syntax reference
• Every command written into README/CONTRIBUTING was executed or verified against the repo's actual scripts
• Re-run gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/community/profile after pushing to confirm the health percentage improved
• Internal links resolve (CONTRIBUTING ↔ README ↔ LICENSE)

Sources

• GitHub community profiles: https://docs.github.com/en/communities/setting-up-your-project-for-healthy-contributions/about-community-profiles-for-public-repositories
• Issue forms syntax: https://docs.github.com/en/communities/using-templates-to-encourage-useful-issues-and-pull-requests/syntax-for-issue-forms
• Contributor Covenant: https://www.contributor-covenant.org/
• Reference implementation: https://github.com/Miragon/wardley-maps-modeler