Managing Repos Centrally

The Idea

Keep all your gh-infra YAML files in a single dedicated repository (e.g., github-config). This is the recommended approach when one person or team is responsible for repository settings across an organization.

Directory Structure

• Directorygithub-config/

  • Directoryrepos/

    • my-cli.yaml
    • dotfiles.yaml
    • blog.yaml
    • gh-infra.yaml
  • Directoryfiles/

    • common.yaml

• repos/ — One Repository or RepositorySet file per repo (or group of repos)
• files/ — FileSet manifests for distributing shared files

Workflow

# Preview all changes across all repos
gh infra plan ./repos/

# Apply everything
gh infra apply ./repos/

All changes are reviewed and applied from one place. You get a single git log showing the full history of every infrastructure change across all your repositories.

Mixing with Self-Managed Repos

Some repos may want to manage their own settings (see Self-Managed Repos). Simply omit those repos from your central YAML files — gh-infra only manages what’s declared.

When to Use This Pattern

• You manage many repositories with an org-wide standard
• You want a single audit trail for all infrastructure changes
• One team is responsible for repository governance (branch protection, merge strategy, etc.)

When Not to Use

• Individual teams need to control their own repo settings independently
• You only manage 1–2 repos — the overhead of a dedicated config repo isn’t worth it