Setting up your repository settings

Recommended repository settings:

With your course repository set up, there are some settings recommended for development.

Using the issue guide checklist called New Course - Set Repository Settings, you can walk through the steps for setting up your repository as we would recommend.

Set up GitHub pages

Go to Settings > Pages.

• Under Source, pick the drop down menu and pick main and /docs.
• Then click Save.
• Lastly, check the box that says Enforce HTTPS at the bottom of this page.

Set up branches

Go to Settings > Branches and click Add rule. This is only possible if you have GitHub Pro, Team, or Enterprise access. We recommend seeing if your organization can give you access if you do not already have access.

For Branch name pattern, put main.

Protect the main branch:
Then check the box that says Require pull request reviews before merging.

Make sure branches are updated:

• Check the box that says Require status checks to pass before merging.
• Underneath this also check the box that says Require branches to be up to date before merging.

Submit a pull request if you haven't already done so, to enable you to do the next step of establishing the branch settings.

Use automatic spell and URL checks:
After the first pull request, a couple of checks will automatically happen and then appear here in settings. Then, you can require these checks to pass before merging pull requests by returning here and selecting them - they are url_check and style-n-check they will check that the urls work and that the code is styled using the stylr package and that the spelling is correct using the spelling package respectively. See the Github Actions page for more details on these.

After setting up these new branch items, click Create and Save changes.

If you are a part of JHU DaSL then you can skip the next section and the issue about GitHub secrets and start adding more content!

Otherwise, you will need to do the next section to set up Git Secrets.

Note that you can comment and close the issues you finish if you click on the issue and scroll down to the comment field to add comments and click the close issue button if you are finished.