About repository visibility changes
Note: If you can't change a repository's visibility, the organization owner may have restricted the ability to change repository visibility to organization owners only. For more information, see "Restricting repository visibility changes in your organization."
We recommend reviewing the following caveats before you change the visibility of a repository.
Warning: Changes to the visibility of a large repository or repository network may affect data integrity. Visibility changes can also have unintended effects on forks. GitHub recommends the following before changing the visibility of a repository network.
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Wait for a period of reduced activity on your enterprise.
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Contact your enterprise owner before proceeding. Your enterprise owner can contact us for further assistance by visiting GitHub Enterprise Support.
Making a repository private
- If you change a repository's visibility from internal to private, GitHub will remove forks that belong to any user without access to the newly private repository. If the internal repository has any forks, the visibility of the forks is already private. For more information, see "What happens to forks when a repository is deleted or changes visibility?"
Making a repository internal
- Any forks of the repository will remain in the repository network, and GitHub AE maintains the relationship between the root repository and the fork. For more information, see "What happens to forks when a repository is deleted or changes visibility?"
Changing a repository's visibility
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On your enterprise, navigate to the main page of the repository.
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Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.
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In the "Danger Zone" section, to the right of to "Change repository visibility", click Change visibility.
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Select a visibility.
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To verify that you're changing the correct repository's visibility, type the name of the repository you want to change the visibility of.
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Click I understand, change repository visibility.
