Bulk opens batches of issues (or posts comments) across GitHub repositories based on a template and CSV of values. Think of it like "mail merge" for GitHub issues. It can be run locally, via Codespaces, or via GitHub Actions.
- You create a CSV of repositories where you'd like issues opened and any fill-in fields you'd like to include in the resulting issues. It might look something like this:
- You create a template of what you'd like to use as the basis for the resulting issue body. You can even reference those per-issue fill-in fields. If we wanted to reference the
namefield in the example above, it might look something like this:
- You run the bulk issue creator script (either locally, via Codespaces, or via GitHub Actions - see below)
- Customized issues (or comments) are created on your behalf for every row you defined in the CSV.
- Profit! 🎉
git clone https://github.com/benbalter/bulk-issue-creatorbulk-issue-creator initto create a./config/data.csvand./config/template.md.mustachefiles- Follow the "Setup" instructions below to customize the data file and template.
- Export the personal access token you create as the
GITHUB_TOKENenvironmental variable, or add it to a.envfile in the root of the repository in the form ofGITHUB_TOKEN=XXX. - Run
bulk-issue-creatorto preview the output - Run
bulk-issue-creator --writeto create the issues.
Don't want to deal with the hassle of setting up a local Ruby environment? No worries. With a little copy/paste can use GitHub actions to open issues from the cloud!:
-
Create a new repository (public or private)
-
Follow the "Setup" instructions below to add the CSV and template to the repository.
-
If you'd like to open issues in a repository other than the one containing the action, store a personal access token you create as the
PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKENActions Secret within the repository settings -
Create a
.github/workflows/bulk-issue-creator.ymlfile with the following contents:on: workflow_dispatch: inputs: write: description: "Change to 'true' to create issues, leave as 'false' to preview output" default: "false" type: boolean name: Bulk issue creator jobs: bulk_issue_creator: runs-on: ubuntu-latest name: Bulk Issue Creator steps: - name: Checkout template and data uses: actions/checkout@v2 - name: Create bulk issues uses: benbalter/bulk-issue-creator@v2 with: write: ${{ github.event.inputs.write }} github_token: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
-
Navigate to
Actions->Bulk issue creator->Run Workflowand clickRun Workflowto preview the output.
Note: once you run the workflow, you can see the output by clicking
Bulk issue creatorin the side bar, and then clicking into the most recent run.
-
Repeat step 5, changing the
falsetext input totruein the final dialog to create issues.
- Run
bulk-issue-creator initor manually create a CSV file in./config/data.csv. The CSV must have columns forrepositoryandtitle(for issues) orissue_number(for comments). All field names are case sensitive. You can also add any other columns you would like, which will be available to the template. It should look something like this:repository,title,project,labels benbalter/gman,Update GMan,GMan,"Red,Blue" benbalter/jekyll-auth,Update Jekyll Auth,Jekyll Auth,"Green,Blue" - Edit (or create) the
./config/template.md.mustachefile in the same directory with the content you want in the issue body. You can reference CSV fields like{{project}}using the Mustache syntax. It should look something like this:Hey there! It looks like it's time to update {{project}}! - Create a personal access token with
reposcope.
Templates (and issue titles) support the Mustache syntax syntax by default. Field names in the CSV should be lower case, and should use _s to separate multiple words like_this, instead of spaces.
Note: You can also use the slightly more advanced Liquid templating system by passing the liquid option (see below).
Options can be passed as command-line arguments when running locally or via the with: property of GitHub Actions. Both locally and when running via GitHub actions, options can also be passed via environment variables. See the table below for available options and how to pass them:
| Command line | GitHub Actions with: |
GitHub Actions env: |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| --write | write: | WRITE: | Write issues to GitHub (default: false) |
| --comment | comment: | COMMENT: | Create comments instead of issues |
| --template-path | template_path: | TEMPLATE_PATH: | Path to the template file |
| --csv-path | csv_path: | CSV_PATH: | Path to the CSV file |
| --liquid | liquid: | LIQUID: | Use Liquid template engine (default: false) |
| --github-token | github_token: | GITHUB_TOKEN: | GitHub Token for authenticating with GitHub |
- You can add a
labelsorassigneescolumn to the CSV, with a comma-separated list of labels or assignees that you'd like added to the issue. - You can add an
issue_numbercolumn to the CSV, with the issue number you'd like the comment added to. Note: You must pass the--commentflag
If you'd like to add created issues to a project board, I suggest adding a specific label and using actions/add-to-project to add the issue to the project board.
![dependabot[bot] avatar](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/in/29110?v=4 "dependabot[bot]")
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