Why ghset?

GitHub template repos copy files. Not settings. Not labels. Not rulesets. Not security config.

Every developer who creates repos regularly hits the same wall: 20 minutes of clicking through Settings, Security, Labels, and Rulesets — for configuration they've already done on another repo.

What exists today

We researched every tool in the ecosystem. The results:

Tool	Status	Problem
probot/settings	DEAD	Framework deprecated, unmaintained, vulnerable
github/safe-settings	DEAD	Crashes on rulesets (#744), ignores deleted rules (#655)
gitstrap	DEAD	Installation broken since 2021 — brew and curl both fail
dothub	DEAD	Last commit 2017, leaks internal IDs into configs
google/github-repo-automation	DEAD	Officially DEPRECATED by Google
Terraform GitHub provider	ALIVE	Requires HCL, state management, import workflow — overkill
xfg	ALIVE	Multi-repo file sync tool, not a settings copier

Full analysis with issue numbers and user quotes: Devlog #1 — The Graveyard.

What's missing everywhere

No living tool can do this:

# Snapshot an existing repo's settings
ghset describe thumbrise/resilience > template.yml

# Create a new repo with those exact settings
ghset init my-new-repo --from template.yml

The describe direction — snapshotting a repo into a portable config — doesn't exist in any maintained tool. Everyone assumes you'll write YAML by hand.

What ghset does

Feature	ghset	Terraform	Template repos
Copy settings	✅ one command	✅ HCL + state	❌
Copy security	✅	✅	❌
Copy labels	✅	✅	❌
Copy rulesets	✅	✅ complex	❌
Snapshot existing repo	✅ describe	❌	❌
Setup time	0 (uses gh)	Hours (HCL + state)	0
Infrastructure	None	State file + backend	None
Learning curve	2 commands	Terraform language	Click UI

Install

go install github.com/thumbrise/ghset@latest

Only prerequisite: gh CLI installed and authenticated.

Usage

# Describe → YAML
ghset describe owner/repo > settings.yml

# Init from file
ghset init new-repo --from settings.yml

# Init directly from another repo
ghset init new-repo --from owner/repo

# Pipe
ghset describe owner/repo | ghset init new-repo

No tokens. No state files. No infrastructure. Just settings, copied.