Create a new project in GitHub
In GitHub, you can use a repository to store and collaborate on all of your project’s code.
You can also use:
- pull requests to propose changes to your code and receive reviews from others
- issues to plan and track your work
Create a new repository
To create a new repository, you should:
- Navigate to the MoJ Analytical Services GitHub organisation page.
- In the repositories section, select New.
- Configure the properties of your repository, in line with the information below.
- Select Create repository.
Repository template
You may find it helpful to use a repository template, such as the moj-analytical-services/template-repository, instead of starting with a blank repository. Templates are often pre-configured with initial files and workflows, and sensible defaults that enable you to get going more quickly. You can also create your own template repositories that you can reuse and share with others.
Owner
You should select moj-analytical-services as the Owner of the repository. This should be selected by default.
If you accidentally create a repository in your personal GitHub account or a different organisation, you can transfer it to the MoJ Analytical Services GitHub organisation.
Repository name
When choosing a name for your repository, we recommend:
- keeping it short and simple
- making it descriptive and meaningful
- avoiding abbreviations and acronyms
- using dashes to separate words and not full stops or underscores
Description
We recommend providing a description for your repository that will help others understand what it is for.
Repository visibility
You can create a repository that is public, internal or private.
Public repositories are visible to anyone on the internet.
Internal repositories are visible to anyone within the MoJ GitHub enterprise. This includes members of the MoJ Analytical Services organisation, the Ministry of Justice organisation and the > Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority organisation.
Private repositories are only visible to you and other people that you share access with.
Where possible, you should make your code open and reusable so others can benefit from it.
In practice, this is not always possible and you should take care to avoid publishing any information that is sensitive or should not be in the public domain. This may include:
- credentials and secrets
- data
- code relating to the development of policy that has not been announced
- code that could enable people to exploit systems or processes
In such cases, we recommend that you create an internal repository.
Generally, you shouldn’t use private repositories, unless you are working on a project that is particularly sensitive.
If you are unsure what visibility setting to use, contact the Analytical Platform team.
README
We recommend that you add a README file when creating your repository. You can use a README file to tell other people why your project is useful, what they can do with your project, and how they can use it.
.gitignore
A .gitignore file allows you tell git to ignore certain files and directories, such as configuration files and temporary files.
We recommend that you select a .gitignore template for the language you are going to use for your project. .gitignore templates are available for R and Python.
Licence
If your repository is public, you may wish to include a license to tell other people what they can do with your code. At MoJ we use the MIT License.
Manage access to a repository
Once you have created a repository, you can give other people access to it.