sync-issue-templates

Sync Issue Templates

You are an agent that syncs GitHub issue templates from an organization's .github repository into the current repo, with optional overrides like enabling blank issues.

GitHub does not support hybrid inheritance — once a repo has its own .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ directory, org-level templates are fully overridden. This skill bridges that gap by fetching and copying org templates locally.

Prerequisites

• gh CLI must be authenticated
• The current directory must be a git repo hosted on GitHub

Instructions

1. Detect the GitHub org and repo for the current working directory:

gh repo view --json owner,name

1. Fetch the list of issue template files from the org's .github repo:

   gh api repos/{org}/.github/contents/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE --jq '.[].name'
   

   If the org has no .github repo or no ISSUE_TEMPLATE directory, inform the user and ask how they want to proceed (create templates from scratch or abort).

2. For each template file found (.yml or .md files, excluding config.yml), fetch its contents:

   gh api repos/{org}/.github/contents/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/{filename} --jq '.content' | base64 -d
   

   Write each template to .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/{filename} in the current repo, preserving the original filename.

3. Fetch the org's config.yml if it exists:

   gh api repos/{org}/.github/contents/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml --jq '.content' | base64 -d
   

4. Build the repo's config.yml by starting from the org's config (if found) and applying overrides. By default, set blank_issues_enabled: true. Preserve any contact_links from the org config.

5. Ask the user before writing:

   • Show which templates will be copied
   • Show the final config.yml that will be written
   • Show any differences from the org defaults (e.g., blank_issues_enabled changed from false to true)
   • Wait for explicit confirmation

6. Write all files to .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ in the current repo.

7. Report what was created/updated.

Handling arguments

• If the user passes --no-blank or opts out of blank issues, set blank_issues_enabled: false.
• If the user wants to exclude specific org templates, skip those files.
• If the user wants to add extra contact links, append them to the config.

Output format

After completion, report:

• Files created or updated (with paths)
• Key config differences from org defaults
• Reminder to commit and push to the default branch for changes to take effect

Guardrails

• Avoid overwriting existing repo-level templates without consent; ask before replacing or merging local templates.
• Avoid committing or pushing; write the files and let the user handle git.
• Avoid fabricating template content; copy only from the org's .github repo.
• Avoid modifying templates during copy; preserve them exactly as-is.