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feat: Add ability to sync copilot instructions across repositories #19

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819b6a1
Initial plan
Copilot Oct 18, 2025
50eacea
Initial plan for copilot instructions sync feature
Copilot Oct 18, 2025
a0375eb
feat: add ability to sync copilot instructions
Copilot Oct 18, 2025
3192ea7
chore: format README table alignment
Copilot Oct 18, 2025
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82 changes: 60 additions & 22 deletions README.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -16,8 +16,9 @@ Update repository settings in bulk across multiple GitHub repositories.
- 🔄 Configure pull request branch update suggestions
- 📊 Enable default CodeQL code scanning
- 🏷️ Manage repository topics
- � **Sync dependabot.yml files** across repositories via pull requests
- �📝 Support multiple repository input methods (comma-separated, YAML file, or all org repos)
- 📦 **Sync dependabot.yml files** across repositories via pull requests
- 🤖 **Sync copilot-instructions.md files** across repositories via pull requests
- 📝 Support multiple repository input methods (comma-separated, YAML file, or all org repos)
- 🔍 **Dry-run mode** with change preview and intelligent change detection
- 📋 **Per-repository overrides** via YAML configuration
- 📊 **Comprehensive logging** showing before/after values for all changes
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -103,6 +104,40 @@ repos:
- PRs are created/updated using the GitHub API so commits are verified
- Updates existing open PRs instead of creating duplicates

### Syncing Copilot Instructions

Sync a `copilot-instructions.md` file to `.github/copilot-instructions.md` in target repositories via pull requests:

```yml
- name: Sync Copilot Instructions
uses: joshjohanning/bulk-github-repo-settings-sync-action@v1
with:
github-token: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
repositories-file: 'repos.yml'
copilot-instructions-md: './.github/copilot-instructions.md'
copilot-instructions-pr-title: 'chore: update copilot-instructions.md'
```

Or with repo-specific overrides in `repos.yml`:

```yaml
repos:
- repo: owner/repo1
copilot-instructions-md: './config/copilot/javascript-instructions.md'
- repo: owner/repo2
copilot-instructions-md: './config/copilot/python-instructions.md'
- repo: owner/repo3
copilot-instructions-md: './.github/copilot-instructions.md' # use the same config that this repo is using
```

**Behavior:**

- If `.github/copilot-instructions.md` doesn't exist, it creates it and opens a PR
- If it exists but differs, it updates it via PR
- If content is identical, no PR is created
- PRs are created/updated using the GitHub API so commits are verified
- Updates existing open PRs instead of creating duplicates

### Organization-wide Updates

```yml
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -144,24 +179,26 @@ Output shows what would change:

## Action Inputs

| Input | Description | Required | Default |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------- | ------------------------------ |
| `github-token` | GitHub token for API access (requires `repo` scope or GitHub App with repository administration) | Yes | - |
| `github-api-url` | GitHub API URL (e.g., `https://api.github.com` for GitHub.com or `https://ghes.domain.com/api/v3` for GHES). Instance URL is auto-derived. | No | `${{ github.api_url }}` |
| `repositories` | Comma-separated list of repositories (`owner/repo`) or `"all"` for all org/user repos | No\* | - |
| `repositories-file` | Path to YAML file containing repository list | No\* | - |
| `owner` | Owner (user or organization) name - required when using `repositories: "all"` | No | - |
| `allow-squash-merge` | Allow squash merging pull requests | No | - |
| `allow-merge-commit` | Allow merge commits for pull requests | No | - |
| `allow-rebase-merge` | Allow rebase merging pull requests | No | - |
| `allow-auto-merge` | Allow auto-merge on pull requests | No | - |
| `delete-branch-on-merge` | Automatically delete head branches after pull requests are merged | No | - |
| `allow-update-branch` | Always suggest updating pull request branches | No | - |
| `enable-default-code-scanning` | Enable default code scanning setup | No | - |
| `topics` | Comma-separated list of topics to set on repositories (replaces existing topics) | No | - |
| `dependabot-yml` | Path to a dependabot.yml file to sync to `.github/dependabot.yml` in target repositories | No | - |
| `dependabot-pr-title` | Title for pull requests when updating dependabot.yml | No | `chore: update dependabot.yml` |
| `dry-run` | Preview changes without applying them (logs what would be changed) | No | `false` |
| Input | Description | Required | Default |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `github-token` | GitHub token for API access (requires `repo` scope or GitHub App with repository administration) | Yes | - |
| `github-api-url` | GitHub API URL (e.g., `https://api.github.com` for GitHub.com or `https://ghes.domain.com/api/v3` for GHES). Instance URL is auto-derived. | No | `${{ github.api_url }}` |
| `repositories` | Comma-separated list of repositories (`owner/repo`) or `"all"` for all org/user repos | No\* | - |
| `repositories-file` | Path to YAML file containing repository list | No\* | - |
| `owner` | Owner (user or organization) name - required when using `repositories: "all"` | No | - |
| `allow-squash-merge` | Allow squash merging pull requests | No | - |
| `allow-merge-commit` | Allow merge commits for pull requests | No | - |
| `allow-rebase-merge` | Allow rebase merging pull requests | No | - |
| `allow-auto-merge` | Allow auto-merge on pull requests | No | - |
| `delete-branch-on-merge` | Automatically delete head branches after pull requests are merged | No | - |
| `allow-update-branch` | Always suggest updating pull request branches | No | - |
| `enable-default-code-scanning` | Enable default code scanning setup | No | - |
| `topics` | Comma-separated list of topics to set on repositories (replaces existing topics) | No | - |
| `dependabot-yml` | Path to a dependabot.yml file to sync to `.github/dependabot.yml` in target repositories | No | - |
| `dependabot-pr-title` | Title for pull requests when updating dependabot.yml | No | `chore: update dependabot.yml` |
| `copilot-instructions-md` | Path to a copilot-instructions.md file to sync to `.github/copilot-instructions.md` in target repositories | No | - |
| `copilot-instructions-pr-title` | Title for pull requests when updating copilot-instructions.md | No | `chore: update copilot-instructions.md` |
| `dry-run` | Preview changes without applying them (logs what would be changed) | No | `false` |

\* Either `repositories` or `repositories-file` must be provided

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -238,6 +275,7 @@ repos:
- repo: owner/repo3
enable-default-code-scanning: false
dependabot-yml: './github/dependabot-configs/custom-dependabot.yml'
copilot-instructions-md: './github/copilot-instructions-custom.md'
```

**Priority:** Repository-specific settings override global defaults from action inputs.
Expand All @@ -246,8 +284,8 @@ repos:

- Settings not specified will remain unchanged
- Topics **replace** all existing repository topics
- Dependabot.yml syncing creates pull requests for review before merging
- Dependabot.yml PRs use the GitHub API ensuring verified commits
- Dependabot.yml and Copilot-instructions.md syncing creates pull requests for review before merging
- File syncing PRs use the GitHub API ensuring verified commits
- Failed updates are logged as warnings but don't fail the action
- **Access denied repositories are skipped with warnings** - ensure your GitHub App has:
- Repository Administration permissions
Expand Down
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