Mastering GitHub: A Complete Guide to Creating Templates | by Jack Roper

Several templates can be set up on GitHub to save time, standardize, and streamline your projects. In this article, we will go through each type, explain why you should use them, where they apply, and provide examples for each.

If you often find yourself writing the same set of comments on issues or pull requests, templates are a great idea.

Templates ensure that all contributions (issues, pull requests, etc.) follow a consistent format, making it easier for maintainers to review and respond, and also guide contributors on what information to include, reducing the likelihood of missing important details. This is especially useful for new contributors, serving as a great onboarding tool.

By providing a structured format, templates save time for both contributors and maintainers. Contributors spend less time figuring out what to include, and maintainers can quickly find the information they need.

Well-structured templates can improve the overall quality of contributions by prompting for relevant information, such as steps to reproduce a bug or specific feature details and therefore facilitate better communication between contributors and maintainers by ensuring that all necessary context and details are provided upfront.

Templates help keep your project organized by categorizing issues and pull requests. For example, separate templates for bug reports, feature requests, and questions make it clear what type of contribution is being made.

Note: There is a feature in GitHub currently in Beta at the time of writing called ‘issue forms’ which allows you to create a ‘more engaging template’ — more on that to come in future articles 🚀

1. Navigate to your repository: Go to the repository where you want to add the comment template.
2. Create a new file: In the root directory, or under .github folder, create a new file. For better organization and ease of use, it’s helpful to use specific naming conventions for your templates. Here are some recommendations for naming different types of templates: