Github Repository

GitHub Repository

Derive a repository's description, homepage, and topics from its codebase and apply them with gh repo edit together with solo-developer settings: squash-only merges, secure defaults, a decluttered sidebar.

Workflow

Use [gh](../gh/SKILL.md) for account selection, bounded API calls, and request serialization when needed.

1. Extract metadata from the codebase:

• Project metadata: Python pyproject.toml ([project] name, description, and URLs).
• README.md: the first paragraphs give a one-line description under ~140 characters.
• Homepage: derive from hosting, e.g. https://.github.io/ for GitHub Pages.
• Topics: 3 to 6 lowercase tags for language, frameworks, tools, or domain (agent, python, cli); letters, numbers, and hyphens only, 50 characters max, 20 per repository.

1. Inspect the current state so the edit stays idempotent; stop when there is no GitHub remote or gh is not authenticated. Resolve repository identity through gh; never print raw remote URLs, which can contain credentials:

``bash gh auth status gh repo view --json nameWithOwner,visibility,isInOrganization,description,homepageUrl,repositoryTopics,deleteBranchOnMerge,squashMergeAllowed,mergeCommitAllowed,rebaseMergeAllowed,hasIssuesEnabled,hasProjectsEnabled,hasWikiEnabled,hasDiscussionsEnabled ``

1. Build one consolidated edit: add the desired topics, remove every current topic not in that desired set, and append --enable-issues=false only when the project tracks issues elsewhere. Query the repository REST payload and add the two secret-scanning flags only for a public repository or when security_and_analysis.secret_scanning is present; otherwise report that the capability is unavailable and continue with the remaining settings:

``bash repository="$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner --jq .nameWithOwner)" repository_json="$(gh api "repos/$repository")" desired_topics=(tag1 tag2 tag3) args=( --description "" --homepage "" --delete-branch-on-merge --enable-squash-merge --squash-merge-commit-message pr-title-description --enable-merge-commit=false --enable-rebase-merge=false --allow-update-branch --enable-wiki=false --enable-projects=false --enable-discussions=false ) for topic in "${desired_topics[@]}"; do args+=(--add-topic "$topic"); done while IFS= read -r topic; do [[ " ${desired_topics[*]} " == *" $topic "* ]] || args+=(--remove-topic "$topic") done &2 fi gh repo edit "$repository" "${args[@]}" ``

1. Verify with the same gh repo view --json ... call and report the fields that changed.

Gotchas

• Truncation: keep the description single-line and under ~140 characters or the GitHub UI truncates it.
• Secret scanning eligibility: public repositories are covered; private and internal repositories require an eligible GitHub Secret Protection or Advanced Security entitlement. Capability-detect instead of inferring availability from personal versus organization ownership.
• Visibility: never pass --visibility or --accept-visibility-change-consequences unless the user explicitly asks.

Documentation

• gh repo edit manual
• Releases: GitHub CLI
• Companion skills: [github-pull-request](../github-pull-request/SKILL.md) (PR titles feed the squash message), [project-license](../project-scaffolding/references/project-license/GUIDE.md) (LICENSE), [project-scaffolding](../project-scaffolding/references/bootstrap.md) (bootstrap).

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: fmind
• Source: fmind/dot
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://fmind.dev

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.