This is a collection of notes on how I manage multiple GitHub repositories. All repositories under my account are maintained using this system.

Features

I need the following:

  • Standardized repository configuration — Easily change topics, descriptions, settings across all repos.
  • Unified GitHub Actions workflows — Shared build, test, release pipelines (e.g., NuGet, Docker Hub).
  • Synchronized repository content — Shared files like .gitignore, Directory.Build.props, and CI/CD workflows.

In short, I want to template my repositories—but also update those templates over time.

Parts

This guide is split into parts:

Specification

All repositories are defined in a central repos.json file:

{
  "content": {
    "standardContent": {
      ".gitignore": "standard_content/.gitignore"
    },
    "standardDotnetNuget": {
      ".github/workflows/dotnet.yml": "standard_content/dotnet.yml",
      ".github/workflows/nuget.yml": "standard_content/nuget.yml",
      "Directory.Build.props": "standard_content/Directory.Build.props"
    }
  },
  "repositories": {
    "MBW.BlueRiiot2MQTT": {
      "description": "Utility to map between Blue Riiots pool API, and Home Assistant MQTT",
      "topics": ["hass", "home-assistant", "mqtt", "blue-riiot", "pool"],
      "docker": true,
      "nuget": false,
      "standardContent": true
    },
    "TMDbLib": {
      "description": "C#.Net library for TheMovieDB",
      "topics": ["tmdb", "movies", "themoviedb"],
      "has_wiki": true,
      "standardContent": true,
      "standardDotnetNuget": true
    }
  }
}

Each repo entry defines descriptive metadata and flags used by automation tools. Follow the linked posts for implementation details.