Organizing Multiple Repositories

Over time, the number of repositories for a team or organization will continue to grow. Below are a few methods that can be used to keep things organized and increase “discoverability”.

Using Topics

Topics are free-form data that can be added to any repository by anyone with administrator permissions to that repository. They appear in the “about” section and can be used in Github’s search, including via limiting the search to a particular organization.

For example, the below search was done using org:Tufts-University topic:testing and results in a search url that can be used in other documentation:

• https://github.com/search?q=org%3ATufts-University topic%3Atesting&type=repositories

For more information, see Github’s documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/classifying-your-repository-with-topics

Screenshot from github’s documentation:

Open

Using Custom Properties

Custom properties are additional key-value metadata that can be added to repositories. Unlike topics, which are free-form data, the available custom properties and their allowed values are declared by organization admins, and can then be set by repository owners/admins.

Like topics, they can be used in searches by typing prop into the search bar, and also results in a search url that can be used in other documentation.

Once set, custom properties should also be usable in repository rules at the repository and organization level. See:

• About rulesets - GitHub Docs

For more information about the custom properties that are available in the Tufts-Technology-Services organization and the process for creating new ones, see:

https://github.com/Tufts-Technology-Services/tech_architecture_group