Managing the default branch name for repositories in your organization

You can set the default branch name for repositories that members create in your organization on GitHub.

Who can use this feature?

Organization owners can manage the default branch name for new repositories in the organization.

In this article

About management of the default branch name

When a member of your organization creates a new repository in your organization, the repository contains one branch, which is the default branch. You can change the name that GitHub uses for the default branch in new repositories that members of your organization create. For more information about the default branch, see About branches.

You can change the default branch for an existing repository. For more information, see "Changing the default branch."

If an enterprise owner has enforced a policy for the default branch name for your enterprise, you cannot set a default branch name for your organization. Instead, you can change the default branch for individual repositories. For more information, see Enforcing repository management policies in your enterprise and Changing the default branch.

Setting the default branch name

  1. In the upper-right corner of GitHub, select your profile photo, then click Your organizations.
  2. Next to the organization, click Settings.
  3. In the "Code, planning, and automation" section of the sidebar, select Repository, then click Repository defaults.
  4. Under "Repository default branch", click Change default branch name now.
  5. In the text field, type the default name that you would like to use for new branches.
  6. Click Update.

Further reading