Crafting Your Project's Welcome Mat: A README Template

Introduction

This repository serves as a comprehensive starter template for new Git projects. It aims to provide a well-structured, best-practice foundation, enabling developers to kickstart their projects quickly with pre-configured tools and workflows.

Example:

# My Awesome Project

* **Standardize Project Setup:** Offer a consistent structure for new
    repositories.
* **Promote Best Practices:** Integrate tools and configurations that
    encourage high-quality code and contributions.
* **Automate Common Tasks:** Include GitHub Actions workflows for linting,
    formatting, testing, and more.
* **Streamline Contributions:** Provide clear guidelines and templates for
    issues and pull requests.
* **Facilitate Updates:** Make it easy for projects generated from this
    template to pull in upstream changes.

## II. Core Purpose & Goals

*(This section is crucial for setting context. It's similar to an "Author's
Intent" but for the project as a whole.)*

* **What problem does your project solve?**
* **What are the main goals or vision for this project?**
* **Who is the intended audience or user base?**

**Guidance:**
Be clear and compelling. This helps others understand the value and direction of
your project.

## III. Key Features / Modules

* List the most important features or components of your project.
* Briefly describe what each feature does.
* Use bullet points for readability.

**Example:**

```markdown
## Key Features

*   **Feature A:** Enables users to accomplish Task 1 seamlessly.
*   **Feature B:** Provides advanced analytics for Data Set Z.
*   **Module C:** Integrates with External Service Q.

• Pre-configured Linters & Formatters:

  • Biome for JavaScript/TypeScript linting and formatting.
  • markdownlint for Markdown file consistency.
  • yaml-lint for YAML file validation.

• GitHub Actions Workflows:

  • format.yml: Automatically formats code on pull requests and commits changes to the PR branch.
  • lint.yml: Lints code (JavaScript, Markdown, YAML) on pull requests and commits changes to the PR branch.
  • test.yml: Runs tests (example setup included).
  • codeql.yml: Integrates GitHub's CodeQL for security analysis.
  • changelog.yml: Generates a changelog from commit messages.
  • stale.yml: Marks inactive issues and pull requests as stale.
  • issue.yml: Summarizes new issues using AI and comments on them.
  • label.yml: Automatically labels pull requests based on conventional commit prefixes.
  • update-from-template.yml: A reusable workflow to help update projects generated from this template.

• Issue and Pull Request Templates:

  • Comprehensive templates for bug reports, feature requests, documentation improvements, and more.
  • A default pull request template.

• Dependabot Configuration:

  • dependabot.yml is set up to help keep dependencies up-to-date.

• EditorConfig & VSCode Settings:

  • .editorconfig for consistent coding styles across different editors.
  • Recommended VSCode extensions and settings in .vscode/.

• Code Ownership:

  • .github/CODEOWNERS file to define default reviewers.

• Security Policy:

  • SECURITY.md outlining how to report vulnerabilities.

• Node.js Versioning:

  • .nvmrc to specify the recommended Node.js version.

• Prerequisites: List any software or tools users need before they can use your project (e.g., Node.js version, Python version, specific libraries).

• Installation Steps: Provide clear, step-by-step instructions on how to install your project.

• Basic Usage: A simple example of how to run or use the project once installed.

1. Create a New Repository:

   • Click the "Use this template" button on the GitHub page of this repository.
   • Select "Create a new repository".
   • Choose an owner, provide a repository name, and set its visibility.
   • Click "Create repository".

2. Clone Your New Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_REPOSITORY_NAME.git
   cd YOUR_REPOSITORY_NAME

3. Customize the Project:

   • Search and Replace: Globally search for dylarcher/git.starter-template and replace it with YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_REPOSITORY_NAME in files like README.md, CITATION.cff, and potentially workflow files if they contain direct repository references. Also, update any author-specific information (e.g., in CITATION.cff).
   • Project Name & Description: Update package.json (if it's a Node.js project) and other relevant files with your project's specific name, description, author, etc.
   • LICENSE: While this template uses the MIT License, ensure it's appropriate for your project or replace LICENSE with your chosen license.
   • Remove Unnecessary Files: Delete any example code (src/, test/), documentation (docs/), or configuration files that are not relevant to your project. For instance, if your project isn't JavaScript-based, remove package.json, .npmrc, .nvmrc, and Biome configurations.
   • Update CHANGELOG.md: You might want to clear or re-initialize the CHANGELOG.md for your new project.
   • Review Workflows: Adjust the GitHub Actions workflows in .github/workflows/ to suit your project's needs (e.g., specific build steps, deployment configurations).

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• npm (v6 or higher)

This template includes a reusable workflow (.github/workflows/update-from-template.yml) to help you pull in updates and new features from this template into your own project.

1. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/yourusername/yourproject.git
2. Navigate to the project directory: cd yourproject
3. Install dependencies: npm install
4. Ensure your project was created from this template.
5. Go to the "Actions" tab in your repository.
6. Select the "Update from Template" workflow from the list of workflows.
7. Click the "Run workflow" button. You can usually leave the default branch (main or master) selected.
8. This workflow will fetch the latest changes from dylarcher/git.starter-template, create a new branch in your repository with these changes, and open a pull request.
9. Review the pull request carefully. It will contain all the commits made to this template since you last updated or since your project was created.
10. Merge the pull request to incorporate the updates. You may need to resolve merge conflicts if you've made changes to the same files that were updated in the template.

npm start

Repository Updates

This project includes mechanisms to keep it updated with the latest changes from the original template repository (dylarcher/git.starter-template).

Manual Updates with npm run update:starter-files

You can manually fetch and merge updates by running the following command in your local repository:

npm run update:starter-files

This script will:

1. Ensure a git remote named template points to https://github.com/dylarcher/git.starter-template.git.
2. Fetch the latest changes from the template remote.
3. Merge the changes from template/main into your current branch, allowing for unrelated histories.

Automated Updates with GitHub Actions

This repository includes a GitHub Action workflow named "Update from Template" (defined in .github/workflows/starterfiles.yml) that automates the update process.

• Functionality: This workflow uses the npm run update:starter-files script to fetch and merge changes from the template repository. If changes are found, it creates a pull request with these updates.
• Schedule: It runs automatically on a daily basis (at midnight UTC).
• Manual Trigger: You can also manually trigger this workflow from the "Actions" tab of your GitHub repository.
• Process:
  1. Go to the "Actions" tab in your repository.
  2. Select the "Update from Template" workflow.
  3. Click the "Run workflow" button.
  4. If updates are available, a pull request will be automatically created.
  5. Review the pull request and merge it to incorporate the updates. You may need to resolve merge conflicts if you've made changes to the same files that were updated in the template.

Using the GitHub Action is the recommended way to keep your project up-to-date with the template.

Release Process

This project uses GitHub Actions to automate the release process. New versions are released when a tag matching the pattern v*.*.* (e.g., v1.0.0, v0.2.1) is pushed to the repository.

Creating a Release

1. Determine the next version number: Based on Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH), decide the appropriate next version for your changes.

2. Create and push a new tag:

   git tag vX.Y.Z
   git push origin vX.Y.Z

   (Replace vX.Y.Z with the actual version number).

3. Automated Release: Pushing the tag will trigger the "Create Release" GitHub Actions workflow. This workflow will:

   • Build the project.
   • Create a release/ directory locally on the runner.
   • Package distributable files (dist/ directory, README.md, LICENSE, package.json) into a ZIP archive named release-vX.Y.Z.zip inside the runner's release/ directory.
   • Create a new GitHub Release named "Release vX.Y.Z".
   • Upload the release-vX.Y.Z.zip archive from the runner as an asset to the GitHub Release.
   • Automatically generate release notes based on the commit messages since the last tag.

Accessing Release Artifacts

The primary way to get release artifacts is through the Releases page of the GitHub repository. Each release will have the versioned ZIP archive (release-vX.Y.Z.zip) available for download. The release/ directory mentioned in the workflow steps is created on the GitHub Actions runner during the release process for packaging and is not committed to the repository itself.

V. How to Contribute

Contributions to improve this template are welcome! Please see the CONTRIBUTING.md file for guidelines.

Example:

## How to Contribute

We welcome contributions! Please see our 
[CONTRIBUTING.md](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md)
 for detailed guidelines on how to get involved, report issues, and submit pull
requests.

VI. License

• State the license under which your project is released.
• Link to the LICENSE file in your repository.

Example:

## License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE)
 file for details.

VII. (Optional) Further Sections

Consider adding other sections as your project grows or based on its nature:

• API Documentation: If your project is a library or API.
• Examples: More detailed usage examples.
• Roadmap: Future plans for the project.
• Acknowledgements: If you want to credit inspirations or major contributors.
• Contact/Support: How users can get help.

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Remember to replace placeholders and examples with your project's specific information! Good luck!