Setting guidelines for repository contributors

About contributing guidelines

To help your project contributors do good work, you can add a file with contribution guidelines to your project repository's root, docs, or .github folder. When someone opens a pull request or creates an issue, they will see a link to that file. The link to the contributing guidelines also appears on your repository's contribute page. For an example of a contribute page, see github/docs/contribute.

For the repository owner, contribution guidelines are a way to communicate how people should contribute.

For contributors, the guidelines help them verify that they're submitting well-formed pull requests and opening useful issues.

For both owners and contributors, contribution guidelines save time and hassle caused by improperly created pull requests or issues that have to be rejected and re-submitted.

You can create default contribution guidelines for your organization or personal account. For more information, see "Creating a default community health file."

Adding a CONTRIBUTING file

1. On your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, navigate to the main page of the repository.
2. 在文件列表上方，使用“添� 文件”下拉列表，在其中单击“创建新文件” 。 “
3. Decide whether to store your contributing guidelines in your repository's root, docs, or .github directory. Then, in the filename field, type the name and extension for the file. Contributing guidelines filenames are not case sensitive. Files are rendered in rich text format if the file extension is in a supported format. For more information, see "Working with non-code files."
   • To make your contributing guidelines visible in the repository's root directory, type CONTRIBUTING.
   • To make your contributing guidelines visible in the repository's docs directory, type docs/ to create the new directory, then CONTRIBUTING.
   • If a repository contains more than one CONTRIBUTING file, then the file shown in links is chosen from locations in the following order: the .github directory, then the repository's root directory, and finally the docs directory.
4. In the new file, add contribution guidelines. These could include:
   • Steps for creating good issues or pull requests.
   • Links to external documentation, mailing lists, or a code of conduct.
   • Community and behavioral expectations.
5. 在页面底部，输入一条简短、有意义的提交消息，描述您对文件所作的更改。 您可以在提交消息中将提交归于多个作者。 有关详细信息，请参阅“创建具有多个共同作者的提交”。
6. 在提交消息字段下面，确定是要将提交添� 到当前分支还是新分支。 如果当前分支是默认分支，则应选择为提交创建新分支，然后创建拉取请求。 有关详细信息，请参阅“创建新的拉取请求”。
7. 单击“提供新文件”。

Examples of contribution guidelines

If you're stumped, here are some good examples of contribution guidelines:

• The GitHub Docs contribution guidelines.
• The Ruby on Rails contribution guidelines.
• The Open Government contribution guidelines.

Further reading

• The Open Source Guides' section "Starting an Open Source Project"
• "Adding a license to a repository"