Creating a default community health file

You can create default community health files, such as CONTRIBUTING and CODE_OF_CONDUCT. Default files will be used for any public repository owned by the account that does not contain its own file of that type.

About default community health files

You can add default community health files to the root of a public repository called .github that is owned by an organization.

GitHub Enterprise will use and display default files for any public repository owned by the account that does not have its own file of that type in any of the following places:

the root of the repository
the .github folder
the docs folder

For example, anyone who creates an issue or pull request in a public repository that does not have its own CONTRIBUTING file will see a link to the default CONTRIBUTING file. If a repository has any files in its own .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE folder none of the contents of the default .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE folder will be used.

Default files are not included in clones, packages, or downloads of individual repositories because they are stored only in the .github repository.

Supported file types

You can create defaults in your organization for the following community health files:

Community health file	Description
CONTRIBUTING.md	A CONTRIBUTING file communicates how people should contribute to your project. For more information, see "Setting guidelines for repository contributors."
Issue and pull request templates	Issue and pull request templates customize and standardize the information you'd like contributors to include when they open issues and pull requests in your repository. For more information, see "About issue and pull request templates."
SUPPORT.md	A SUPPORT file lets people know about ways to get help with your project. For more information, see "Adding support resources to your project."

You cannot create a default license file. License files must be added to individual repositories so the file will be included when a project is cloned, packaged, or downloaded.

Creating a repository for default files

In the upper-right corner of any page, use the drop-down menu, and select New repository.
Use the Owner drop-down menu, and select the organization you want to create default files for.
Type .github as the name for your repository, and an optional description.
Choose to make the repository public.
Select Initialize this repository with a README.
Click Create repository.
In the repository, create one of the supported community health files. Issue templates must be in a folder called .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE. All other supported files must be in the root of the repository. For more information, see "Creating new files."