Repo Manager

repo-manager — Repository Setup and Infrastructure Specialist

Scaffold issue templates, contributing guides, CI/CD workflows, labels, licenses, changelogs, README badges, and everything else a well-run open source repo needs — without touching a single line of application code. Every generated file is previewed before it is written.

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What This Agent Is For

When you create a new GitHub repository, it is just an empty shell. Making it welcoming to contributors, navigable for users, and trustworthy to maintainers takes dozens of small files: CONTRIBUTING.md, CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, SECURITY.md, issue templates, PR templates, CI workflows, labels, FUNDING.yml, a proper README, and more.

Setting all of these up manually is an afternoon of boilerplate. The repo-manager does it in minutes with a detection-first approach: it reads your project first, understands the language and framework, checks what already exists, and generates only what is missing.

Important boundary: The repo-manager generates repository infrastructure files only — .github/ directory contents and root configuration files. It never touches your application source code, never deploys anything, and never manages hosting.

Use repo-manager when:

• You are starting a new open source project and need to go from empty to professional quickly
• An existing repo is missing essential community health files
• You want to add GitHub Actions CI for a project that doesn't have it yet
• You need to set up a standard label taxonomy across your repos
• You want to scaffold a release workflow with automatic changelog generation
• You want the full good first issue pipeline set up to attract contributors

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How to Launch It

GitHub Copilot (VS Code)

@repo-manager set up this repo
@repo-manager add issue templates
@repo-manager scaffold a CI workflow
@repo-manager create labels for this repo
@repo-manager draft a release for v2.0

Claude Code (Terminal)

/repo-manager set up repo
/repo-manager add contributing guide
/repo-manager scaffold ci
/repo-manager create release

Via GitHub Hub

@github-hub set up repo
@github-hub add templates

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What It Can Generate

Expand full capability reference (14 categories)

Category	What is generated	Location
Issue templates	Bug report, feature request, custom YAML forms, template chooser config	.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
PR template	Checklist-driven pull request template	.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
Contributing guide	Fork/branch/PR workflow, dev setup, code style, commit conventions	CONTRIBUTING.md
Code of conduct	Contributor Covenant v2.1 with contact details	CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
Security policy	Supported versions table, reporting instructions, response timeline	SECURITY.md
README scaffolding	Badges (shields.io), table of contents, features, getting started, license, contributors	README.md
CI/CD workflows	Build, test, release, Dependabot — pinned versions, least-privilege, caching	.github/workflows/
Labels	Standard 14-label taxonomy with colors and descriptions including accessibility	GitHub labels via gh commands
Releases and changelogs	Keep a Changelog format, commit grouping, tagging guidance	CHANGELOG.md + tag commands
Wiki structure	Standard wiki page outline	GitHub Wiki
Funding	Sponsors/platforms config	.github/FUNDING.yml
License	MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL 3.0, BSD 2-Clause, MPL 2.0, or Unlicense	LICENSE
.gitignore	Language/framework-aware, covering build, IDE, OS, env, deps	.gitignore
Good first issues	Analyzes codebase for starter opportunities, creates issues with context	GitHub issues via gh commands

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What to Expect — Step by Step

Full Setup Flow

1. Detection first:

   ⚙️ Detecting project language and framework…
   ⚙️ Checking existing repo structure for conflicts…
   ✅ Ready to scaffold — 8 files to generate. Previewing before proceeding.
   

2. Reads your project. Before generating anything, the agent reads your repository structure to detect language/framework (Node, Python, Go, etc.) so CI workflows and .gitignore are appropriate.

3. Checks existing files. Scans for existing CONTRIBUTING.md, CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, issue templates, etc. so it only tells you about gaps.

4. Previews each file before writing. You see the full content and confirm.

5. Provides next steps after generation: file paths, gh commands to run, how to test templates in GitHub's UI.

Adding Issue Templates

The agent generates YAML form templates (the current GitHub standard, not legacy Markdown templates). Every template set includes a config.yml for the template chooser.

The default templates generated:

• Bug Report — description, steps to reproduce, expected vs. actual behavior, environment, logs/screenshots
• Feature Request — problem/motivation, proposed solution, alternatives considered, additional context

To build a custom template interactively, use template-builder.

Scaffolding CI/CD

The agent detects your language and generates an appropriate workflow. All generated CI files:

• Use pinned action versions (e.g., actions/checkout@v4, not @latest)
• Include a permissions: block with least-privilege settings
• Enable dependency caching for faster runs
• Use concurrency groups to cancel redundant runs on new pushes

Example output for a Node.js project:

name: CI

on: [push, pull_request]

permissions:
  contents: read

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

Setting Up Labels

The agent generates the standard label taxonomy and provides the gh label create commands to apply them:

gh label create "accessibility" --color "#1d76db" --description "Accessibility improvements"
gh label create "good first issue" --color "#7057ff" --description "Good for newcomers"
# ... (all 14 labels shown before running)

Confirm before any gh commands are run.

Drafting a Release

1. The agent reads commit history since the last tag
2. Groups commits by type (feat, fix, docs, chore)
3. Generates a Keep a Changelog entry
4. Guides through gh release create with the generated notes

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Example Prompts

Show example prompts

Full Setup

@repo-manager set up this repo for open source contributions
@repo-manager what health files am I missing from this repo?
@repo-manager scaffold everything — templates, CI, labels, contributing guide

Individual Files

@repo-manager add a CONTRIBUTING.md
@repo-manager create a CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
@repo-manager add a security policy
@repo-manager scaffold a README with badges and table of contents
@repo-manager add a .gitignore for Node.js
@repo-manager generate a license — help me choose

CI and Labels

@repo-manager scaffold a CI workflow for this project
@repo-manager add Dependabot config
@repo-manager create the standard label set for this repo
@repo-manager add the accessibility label

Releases and Changelogs

@repo-manager draft a release for v2.0
@repo-manager generate a changelog since v1.5
@repo-manager help me create and push a release tag

Contributor Pipeline

@repo-manager seed good first issues from this repo's TODOs
@repo-manager add a PR template with an accessibility checklist
@repo-manager create issue templates — bug report and feature request

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Connections to Other Agents

Expand agent connections

Handoff	When	Agent
Custom issue templates	Build additional templates with an interactive wizard	template-builder
Access and branch protection	After repo infrastructure is set up, configure who can push and merge	repo-admin
Back to hub	Continue with other GitHub workflow tasks	github-hub

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Behavioral Constraints

Expand constraints

• Detect before generating — always reads existing project structure before producing any file; never generates blindly
• Preview before writing — every generated file is shown in full before being saved to disk
• Confirm before overwriting — never replaces an existing file without showing a diff and getting explicit approval
• Application source off-limits — only generates .github/ and root config files; never touches src/, app/, or any application code
• YAML form format for issue templates — never generates the legacy Markdown-style --- header templates
• Pinned action versions always — generated GitHub Actions workflows never use @latest or @main
• Least-privilege CI permissions — every generated workflow includes a permissions: block scoped to minimum required access
• accessibility label always present — included in every standard label scheme generated

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Troubleshooting

Show troubleshooting help

"The CI workflow runs but fails on dependency installation." The agent detects your package manager (npm, yarn, pnpm, pip, etc.) from your lockfile. If you use a non-standard setup, say: "generate a CI workflow for pnpm with Node 20" to be explicit.

"My issue templates are not appearing in the GitHub UI." Templates must be in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ with .yml extensions. There must also be a config.yml in that folder. Ask: "check my issue template setup and generate a config.yml."

"The label commands keep failing — labels already exist." Use gh label edit instead of gh label create for existing labels (or delete them first). Ask: "update my labels — keep existing ones, add any that are missing."

"I need a CI workflow for a monorepo with multiple packages." Describe your structure: "generate CI for a monorepo — Node frontend in packages/web, Python API in packages/api." The agent generates a matrix workflow.