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Manage GitHub issue labels

Source: R/github-labels.R
use_github_labels.Rd

use_github_labels() can create new labels, update colours and descriptions, and optionally delete GitHub's default labels (if delete_default = TRUE). It will never delete labels that have associated issues.

use_tidy_github_labels() calls use_github_labels() with tidyverse conventions powered by tidy_labels(), tidy_labels_rename(), tidy_label_colours() and tidy_label_descriptions().

tidyverse label usage

Labels are used as part of the issue-triage process, designed to minimise the time spent re-reading issues. The absence of a label indicates that an issue is new, and has yet to be triaged.

There are four mutually exclusive labels that indicate the overall "type" of issue:

  • bug: an unexpected problem or unintended behavior.

  • documentation: requires changes to the docs.

  • feature: feature requests and enhancement.

  • upkeep: general package maintenance work that makes future development easier.

Then there are five labels that are needed in most repositories:

  • breaking change: issue/PR will requires a breaking change so should be not be included in patch releases.

  • reprex indicates that an issue does not have a minimal reproducible example, and that a reply has been sent requesting one from the user.

  • good first issue indicates a good issue for first-time contributors.

  • help wanted indicates that a maintainer wants help on an issue.

  • wip indicates that someone is working on it or has promised to.

Finally most larger repos will accumulate their own labels for specific areas of functionality. For example, usethis has labels like "description", "paths", "readme", because time has shown these to be common sources of problems. These labels are helpful for grouping issues so that you can tackle related problems at the same time.

Repo-specific issues should have a grey background (#eeeeee) and an emoji. This keeps the issue page visually harmonious while still giving enough variation to easily distinguish different types of label.

Usage

use_github_labels(
  labels = character(),
  rename = character(),
  colours = character(),
  descriptions = character(),
  delete_default = FALSE
)

use_tidy_github_labels()

tidy_labels()

tidy_labels_rename()

tidy_label_colours()

tidy_label_descriptions()

Arguments

labels

A character vector giving labels to add.

rename

A named vector with names giving old names and values giving new names.

colours, descriptions

Named character vectors giving hexadecimal colours (like e02a2a) and longer descriptions. The names should match label names, and anything unmatched will be left unchanged. If you create a new label, and don't supply colours, it will be given a random colour.

delete_default

If TRUE, removes GitHub default labels that do not appear in the labels vector and that do not have associated issues.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# typical use in, e.g., a new tidyverse project
use_github_labels(delete_default = TRUE)

# create labels without changing colours/descriptions
use_github_labels(
  labels = c("foofy", "foofier", "foofiest"),
  colours = NULL,
  descriptions = NULL
)

# change descriptions without changing names/colours
use_github_labels(
  labels = NULL,
  colours = NULL,
  descriptions = c("foofiest" = "the foofiest issue you ever saw")
)
} # }