Github Repo Settings

GitHub Repo Settings

Trigger: Use when configuring a new repo's settings, setting up branch protection, or managing collaborators.

CLI vs API vs Web

Essential Settings (gh CLI)

# Repo description and topics
gh repo edit --description "My project" --topic "rust,cli,networking"

# Default branch
gh repo edit --default-branch main

# Visibility
gh repo edit --visibility public      # public/private/internal

# Merge strategies
gh repo edit --allow-merge-commit false
gh repo edit --allow-rebase-merge true
gh repo edit --allow-squash-merge true
gh repo edit --delete-branch-on-merge true

# Features
gh repo edit --enable-issues true
gh repo edit --enable-wiki false       # Most projects use README wiki
gh repo edit --enable-projects false
gh repo edit --enable-discussions false

Branch Protection Rules

# Full protection for main branch
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/branches/main/protection \
  --method PUT \
  --input - << 'EOF'
{
  "required_status_checks": {
    "strict": true,
    "contexts": ["continuous-integration", "code-review/lint"]
  },
  "enforce_admins": true,
  "required_pull_request_reviews": {
    "required_approving_review_count": 1,
    "dismiss_stale_reviews": true,
    "require_code_owner_reviews": true
  },
  "required_linear_history": true,
  "allow_force_pushes": false,
  "allow_deletions": false,
  "required_conversation_resolution": true
}
EOF

Protection Settings Reference

Collaborators & Teams

# Add collaborator
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/collaborators/username \
  --method PUT \
  --field permission=push    # pull/triage/push/maintain/admin

# Add team
gh api orgs/:org/teams/:team/repos/:owner/:repo \
  --method PUT \
  --field permission=push

# List collaborators
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/collaborators --jq '.[].login'

API Automation

# Create repo with all settings
gh repo create my-repo --private \
  --description "Auto-created repo" \
  --gitignore Python \
  --license MIT

# Archive (read-only)
gh api repos/:owner/:repo --method PATCH \
  --field archived=true

Pitfalls

• Branch protection applies to PR merges only: Direct pushes by admins still bypass protection unless enforce_admins is on
• Rate limits: gh api calls count toward GitHub's rate limit (5,000/hr authenticated)
• Fine-grained PATs: Need repo-scoped tokens for branch protection API calls

Verification

gh api repos/:owner/:repo -q '.default_branch, .visibility'
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/branches/main/protection -q '.required_pull_request_reviews'