GitHub Repo Bootstrap#

Create a repo with both code/docs and metadata, not just the remote shell.

Workflow#

1. Inspect local project files first.
   • Read README.md if present.
   • Read package metadata ( package.json, pyproject.toml, etc.) if present.
   • Infer a short project summary and 3-5 relevant topics from the project itself.
2. Ensure these fields are set:
   • repository name
   • visibility ( public or private)
   • description
   • homepage if available
   • topics
3. If information is missing, ask for only the missing decision that cannot be inferred safely.
4. Create or update the repo with GitHub CLI.
   • Create: gh repo create ... --description ... [--homepage ...]
   • Topics: gh repo edit ... --add-topic ...
5. Verify the result by reading back repo metadata with gh repo view --json name,description,homepageUrl,repositoryTopics,url or gh api.
6. If verification shows zero topics, do not declare success. Infer better topics, update the repo, and verify again. Only stop if there is a real blocker you can name.

Rules#

• Treat GitHub About as the combination of:

  • description
  • homepage / website
  • topics

• Do not stop after setting only description.

• Topics are mandatory by default.

• Prefer 3-5 concise lowercase topics.

• Avoid generic filler topics like code, app, or project unless they are truly useful.

• Keep the description to one sentence.

• If README is missing, create a minimal one before publishing.

• If the user says “fill the about section,” interpret that as description + homepage + topics.

• Treat an empty repositoryTopics result during verification as a failed task state, not a soft warning.

Topic Heuristics#

Derive topics from:

• primary language or framework
• deployment target or platform
• project type ( cli, library, automation, bot, tooling, etc.)
• domain keywords from README

Good examples:

• cli,github,automation
• typescript,react,chrome-extension
• python,fastapi,api

Commands#

Create repo:

bash

gh repo create <name> --public --description "<summary>"

Add homepage and topics:

bash

gh repo edit <owner>/<repo> \
  --homepage "<url>" \
  --add-topic topic1 \
  --add-topic topic2 \
  --add-topic topic3

Verify:

bash

gh repo view <owner>/<repo> --json name,description,homepageUrl,repositoryTopics,url

Verification passes only if repositoryTopics is non-empty.

Resources#

• Prompt templates: read references/prompt-templates.md when the user wants a reusable prompt for Codex, Claude, or another agent.
• Wrapper script: use scripts/lazygithub.sh when a single command is faster than repeated manual gh commands.