Repo Setup — Fork, Clone & Branch Setup
Overview
Automate the setup of a local development environment for contributing to or working on GitHub repositories. Handles the full fork → clone → branch → dependencies pipeline.
Use cases: Open-source contribution, multi-repo development, new project onboarding, codebase exploration.
Prerequisites
gh auth status # Must show "Logged in"
git --version # Git installed
If not configured, ask the user to provide:
- GitHub username — used for fork URLs and clone paths
- GitHub token — run
gh auth login or set export GH_TOKEN=<token>
Token is required for: forking repos, cloning private forks, pushing code. Without it, git push and gh repo fork will fail.
Workflow
Step 1: Get Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Default | Example |
|---|
| Repository | ✅ | — | owner/repo |
| GitHub username | ✅ | — | myusername |
| Branch name | ❌ | (stay on default) | fix/bug-description |
| Working directory | ❌ | ~/prs/{repo} | ~/dev/{repo} |
| Auth method | ❌ | GH_TOKEN env var | Token in URL, SSH |
Step 2: Fork
gh repo fork {owner}/{repo} --clone=false
If fork already exists, this is a no-op. If the user already owns the repo, skip forking.
Step 3: Clone
WORKDIR="${WORK_BASE:-$HOME/prs}/{repo_name}"
if [ -d "$WORKDIR" ]; then
cd "$WORKDIR"
git fetch --all
else
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$WORKDIR")"
# With token auth
git clone "https://${GH_TOKEN}@github.com/${username}/${repo_name}.git" "$WORKDIR"
# Or with SSH
# git clone "git@github.com:${username}/${repo_name}.git" "$WORKDIR"
cd "$WORKDIR"
fi
Step 4: Configure Upstream Remote
if ! git remote get-url upstream &>/dev/null; then
git remote add upstream "https://github.com/${owner}/${repo_name}.git"
fi
git fetch upstream
Step 5: Create Feature Branch
# Detect default branch
DEFAULT_BRANCH=$(git remote show upstream 2>/dev/null | grep 'HEAD branch' | awk '{print $NF}')
DEFAULT_BRANCH="${DEFAULT_BRANCH:-main}"
# Create branch from latest upstream
git checkout -b {branch_name} upstream/$DEFAULT_BRANCH
Branch Naming Conventions
| Type | Pattern | Example |
|---|
| Bug fix | fix/{short-description} | fix/null-pointer-on-empty-list |
| Feature | feat/{short-description} | feat/add-retry-logic |
| Refactor | refactor/{short-description} | refactor/extract-auth-module |
| Review iteration | fix/{description}-v2 | fix/tool-guards-v2 |
Step 6: Install Dependencies
Detect the project type and install accordingly:
| Indicator | Language | Install Command |
|---|
pyproject.toml / setup.py | Python | pip install -e ".[dev]" or pip install -e . |
requirements.txt | Python | pip install -r requirements.txt |
package.json | Node.js | npm install |
go.mod | Go | go mod download |
Cargo.toml | Rust | cargo build |
pom.xml | Java | mvn install -DskipTests |
build.gradle | Java/Kotlin | ./gradlew build -x test |
If full dev install fails (common with native dependencies):
- Install core deps individually
- Skip optional native/GPU deps
- Ensure test framework is installed at minimum
Step 7: Verify
# Check setup
echo "Directory: $(pwd)"
echo "Branch: $(git branch --show-current)"
echo "Upstream: $(git remote get-url upstream)"
echo "Fork: $(git remote get-url origin)"
# Quick build/import test
# Python: python -c "import {package}"
# Node: npm run build (if applicable)
# Go: go build ./...
Automation Script
A helper script is available if this Skill is installed alongside oss-pr-campaign:
# One-liner setup
scripts/setup_repo.sh owner/repo username fix/branch-name
Or implement the same logic step-by-step using the SOP above.
Output
- Local repo at
~/prs/{repo}/ (or custom directory) on feature branch
- Upstream remote configured
- Dependencies installed
- Ready for development
Tips
- When used as part of a development pipeline, this follows issue-hunter and feeds into dev-test.
- For exploring a codebase without contributing, skip the fork step and clone the original directly.
- Store GH_TOKEN in your shell profile for persistent auth across sessions.
- If working on multiple repos, keep them all under
~/prs/ for easy navigation.
