GitHub template for small projects

This is a GitHub template designed for small projects that is independent of the programming language used. It uses various GitHub features to manage issues and pull requests, while enforcing best practices for small projects.

Why use a template (even for small projects)

• Write better documentation for you and the community
• Write more consistent code and foster collaboration
• Increase security
• Follow recognized ethical principles
• Promote Free and Open-source software

How this template helps you

Documentation

• README.md according to www.makeareadme.com
• CHANGELOG.md according to keepachangelog.com
• Automated CHANGELOG.md via git-cliff
• package.json according to npm docs
• Accessible documentation via gh-pages

Consistency

• Consistent formatting via Prettier
• Consistent commit messages according to Conventional Commits via husky
• Consistent versioning via Semantic Versioning
• Consistent fork and pull workflow via GitHub branch protection
• Consistent issues via issue templates

Security

• SECURITY.md according to GitHub
• GitHub security alerts
• Integrity via GitHub branch protection

Ethics

• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md according to Contributor Covenant
• Friendly first interactions via greetings

FOSS

• LICENSE.md according to choosealicense.com

Installation

To initialize the template, generate or clone the repository to your local machine and follow this guide.

1. Install Node.js and run the following commands in the root directory of the repository:

npm install
npm run prepare

1. Complete the following checklist of tasks to customize the template for your project:

• enable GitHub security alerts
• protect the main branch to enforce a fork and pull workflow
• search and replace FULLNAME, USERNAME, REPO_NAME, SHORT_DESCRIPTION [INSERT CONTACT METHOD] in CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, package.json, README.md, SECURITY.md, config.yml
• add favicons to ./, e.g. via favicon.io
• search for TODO in the project (mostly documentation) and fix it
• delete README.md
• rename README.template.md to README.md
• run npm run format to format all files
• run npm run commit to commit all changes
• run npm run changelog and include the output in CHANGELOG.md
• enable gh-pages

Usage

Check that all files are properly formatted.

npm run check

Format all files.

npm run format

Run the wizard to write meaningful commit messages.

npm run commit

Run the wizard to create a CHANGELOG.md.

npm run changelog

Support

This project is maintained by @maehr. Please understand that we won’t be able to provide individual support via email. We also believe that help is much more valuable if it’s shared publicly, so that more people can benefit from it.

Type	Platforms
🚨 Bug Reports	GitHub Issue Tracker
📚 Docs Issue	GitHub Issue Tracker
🎁 Feature Requests	GitHub Issue Tracker
🛡 Report a security vulnerability	See SECURITY.md
💬 General Questions	GitHub Discussions

Roadmap

No changes are currently planned.

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.

Authors and acknowledgment

• Moritz Mähr - Initial work - maehr

See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE.md file for details.