GitHub Settings

This GitHub App syncs repository settings defined in .github/settings.yml to GitHub, enabling Pull Requests for repository settings.

Usage

Install the app.
Create a .github/settings.yml file in your repository. Changes to this file on the default branch will be synced to GitHub.

All top-level settings are optional. Some plugins do have required fields.

# These settings are synced to GitHub by https://probot.github.io/apps/settings/

repository:
  # See https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/repos#update-a-repository for all available settings.

  # The name of the repository. Changing this will rename the repository
  name: repo-name

  # A short description of the repository that will show up on GitHub
  description: description of repo

  # A URL with more information about the repository
  homepage: https://example.github.io/

  # A comma-separated list of topics to set on the repository
  topics: github, probot

  # Either `true` to make the repository private, or `false` to make it public.
  private: false

  # Either `true` to enable issues for this repository, `false` to disable them.
  has_issues: true

  # Either `true` to enable projects for this repository, or `false` to disable them.
  # If projects are disabled for the organization, passing `true` will cause an API error.
  has_projects: true

  # Either `true` to enable the wiki for this repository, `false` to disable it.
  has_wiki: true

  # Either `true` to enable downloads for this repository, `false` to disable them.
  has_downloads: true

  # Updates the default branch for this repository.
  default_branch: master

  # Either `true` to allow squash-merging pull requests, or `false` to prevent
  # squash-merging.
  allow_squash_merge: true

  # Either `true` to allow merging pull requests with a merge commit, or `false`
  # to prevent merging pull requests with merge commits.
  allow_merge_commit: true

  # Either `true` to allow rebase-merging pull requests, or `false` to prevent
  # rebase-merging.
  allow_rebase_merge: true

  # Either `true` to enable automatic deletion of branches on merge, or `false` to disable
  delete_branch_on_merge: true

  # Either `true` to enable automated security fixes, or `false` to disable
  # automated security fixes.
  enable_automated_security_fixes: true

  # Either `true` to enable vulnerability alerts, or `false` to disable
  # vulnerability alerts.
  enable_vulnerability_alerts: true

# Labels: define labels for Issues and Pull Requests
labels:
  - name: bug
    color: CC0000
    description: An issue with the system 🐛.

  - name: feature
    # If including a `#`, make sure to wrap it with quotes!
    color: '#336699'
    description: New functionality.

  - name: Help Wanted
    # Provide a new name to rename an existing label
    new_name: first-timers-only

# Milestones: define milestones for Issues and Pull Requests
milestones:
  - title: milestone-title
    description: milestone-description
    # The state of the milestone. Either `open` or `closed`
    state: open

# Collaborators: give specific users access to this repository.
# See https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/repos#add-a-repository-collaborator for available options
collaborators:
  # - username: bkeepers
  #   permission: push
  # - username: hubot
  #   permission: pull

  # Note: `permission` is only valid on organization-owned repositories.
  # The permission to grant the collaborator. Can be one of:
  # * `pull` - can pull, but not push to or administer this repository.
  # * `push` - can pull and push, but not administer this repository.
  # * `admin` - can pull, push and administer this repository.
  # * `maintain` - Recommended for project managers who need to manage the repository without access to sensitive or destructive actions.
  # * `triage` - Recommended for contributors who need to proactively manage issues and pull requests without write access.

# See https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/teams#add-or-update-team-repository-permissions for available options
teams:
  - name: core
    # The permission to grant the team. Can be one of:
    # * `pull` - can pull, but not push to or administer this repository.
    # * `push` - can pull and push, but not administer this repository.
    # * `admin` - can pull, push and administer this repository.
    # * `maintain` - Recommended for project managers who need to manage the repository without access to sensitive or destructive actions.
    # * `triage` - Recommended for contributors who need to proactively manage issues and pull requests without write access.
    permission: admin
  - name: docs
    permission: push

branches:
  - name: master
    # https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/repos#update-branch-protection
    # Branch Protection settings. Set to null to disable
    protection:
      # Required. Require at least one approving review on a pull request, before merging. Set to null to disable.
      required_pull_request_reviews:
        # The number of approvals required. (1-6)
        required_approving_review_count: 1
        # Dismiss approved reviews automatically when a new commit is pushed.
        dismiss_stale_reviews: true
        # Blocks merge until code owners have reviewed.
        require_code_owner_reviews: true
        # Specify which users and teams can dismiss pull request reviews. Pass an empty dismissal_restrictions object to disable. User and team dismissal_restrictions are only available for organization-owned repositories. Omit this parameter for personal repositories.
        dismissal_restrictions:
          users: []
          teams: []
      # Required. Require status checks to pass before merging. Set to null to disable
      required_status_checks:
        # Required. Require branches to be up to date before merging.
        strict: true
        # Required. The list of status checks to require in order to merge into this branch
        contexts: []
      # Required. Enforce all configured restrictions for administrators. Set to true to enforce required status checks for repository administrators. Set to null to disable.
      enforce_admins: true
      # Prevent merge commits from being pushed to matching branches
      required_linear_history: true
      # Required. Restrict who can push to this branch. Team and user restrictions are only available for organization-owned repositories. Set to null to disable.
      restrictions:
        apps: []
        users: []
        teams: []

Notes

Label color can also start with #, e.g. color: '#F341B2'. Make sure to wrap it with quotes!
Each top-level element under branch protection must be filled (eg: required_pull_request_reviews, required_status_checks, enforce_admins and restrictions). If you don't want to use one of them you must set it to null (see comments in the example above). Otherwise, none of the settings will be applied.

Inheritance

This app is built with probot, and thus uses the octokit-plugin-config. This means you can inherit settings from another repo, and only override what you want to change.

Individual settings in the arrays listed under labels, teams (once it is supported) and branches will be merged with the base repo if the name of an element in the array matches the name of an element in the corresponding array in the base repo. A possible future enhancement would be to make that work for the other settings arrays based on username, or title. This is not currently supported.

To further clarify: Inheritance within the Protected Branches plugin allows you to override specific settings per branch. For example, your .github repo may set default protection on the master branch. You can then include master in your branches array, and only override the required_approving_review_count. Alternatively, you might only have a branch like develop in your branches array, and would still get master protection from your base repo.

Security Implications

WARNING: Note that this app inherently escalates anyone with push permissions to the admin role, since they can push config settings to the master branch, which will be synced. In a future, we may add restrictions to allow changes to the config file to be merged only by specific people/teams, or those with admin access (via a combination of protected branches, required statuses, and branch restrictions). Until then, use caution when merging PRs and adding collaborators.

Until restrictions are added in this app, one way to preserve admin/push permissions is to utilize the GitHub CodeOwners feature to set one or more administrative users as the code owner of the .github/settings.yml file, and turn on "require code owner review" for the master branch. This does have the side effect of requiring code owner review for the entire branch, but helps preserve permission levels.

Deployment