Github secure

Purpose

Apply security best practices to a GitHub repository: branch protection, automated security scanning, dependency management, and required CI checks.

Designed to work with: /mern-scaffold, /mern-kit, /nean-scaffold, /nean-kit, and iOS projects.

Arguments

• --branch <n> — Protected branch name (default: main)
• --reviewers <n> — Required reviewers for PRs (default: auto-detect). If the repo has only 1 collaborator, defaults to 0 (solo-dev mode). Otherwise defaults to 1. Use --reviewers 0 to force solo-dev mode.
• --ralph-mode — Configure for Ralph automation (see below)
• --skip-workflows — Skip creating CI workflow files (use if existing ci.yml is sufficient)

Ralph Mode (--ralph-mode)

Configures the repository for fully autonomous Ralph operation:

1. Auto-merge enabled — PRs can use gh pr merge --auto
2. Required reviews = 0 — No human approval needed for merge
3. Enforce admins = true — Rules apply to everyone (safe since no review to bypass)
4. CI checks still required — Quality gates remain enforced
5. All other security settings remain — Dependabot, secret scanning, etc.

This allows Ralph to:

• Create PRs
• Enable auto-merge on each PR
• Wait for CI to pass
• PR merges automatically
• Continue to next story

Use when: Solo developers, personal portfolios, or trusted automation. A solo dev can't meaningfully self-review — CI is the real quality gate.

For team projects: Use default settings (reviewers >= 1) and merge PRs manually or via /github-merge-stack.

What gets created/configured

Files created

.github/
├── dependabot.yml              # Automated dependency updates
├── CODEOWNERS                  # Required reviewers by path
├── SECURITY.md                 # Security policy
├── pull_request_template.md    # PR template with checklist
└── workflows/
    ├── security.yml            # CodeQL + dependency review
    ├── pr-check.yml            # PR validation (size, commits)
    └── dependabot-auto-merge.yml  # Auto-merge minor/patch Dependabot PRs

Note: Does NOT overwrite existing ci.yml from scaffold commands.

Branch protection rules (via gh CLI)

• Require pull request before merging
• Require N approving reviews (0 in ralph-mode)
• Dismiss stale reviews on new commits
• Require status checks to pass (ci, security)
• Require branches to be up to date
• Require linear history (pairs with squash-only merge)
• Enforce admins (true when reviewers = 0; false when reviewers > 0 for solo-dev bypass)
• Required conversation resolution (all review threads must be resolved)
• Block force pushes
• Block deletions

Repository settings (via gh CLI)

• Enable Dependabot alerts
• Enable Dependabot security updates
• Enable secret scanning
• Enable push protection
• Enable auto-merge (always, for flexibility)
• Delete branch on merge (auto-cleanup merged branches)
• Squash merge only (disable merge commit + rebase for linear history)
• Disable wiki (unused, reduces attack surface)
• Disable forking (private org-owned repos only — user-owned repos don't support this)

Prerequisites

• gh CLI installed and authenticated
• Admin access to the repository
• Repository must exist on GitHub (use scaffold --github first)

Important: Private Repo Limitations

CodeQL code scanning is free for public repositories only. For private repos:

• Make the repo public (gh repo edit --visibility public --accept-visibility-change-consequences), OR
• Purchase GitHub Advanced Security license, OR
• Use --skip-workflows to skip CodeQL setup

Secret scanning + push protection also requires GitHub Advanced Security for private repos. For private repos without GHAS, skip the secret scanning API call (it will return 422). These features enable automatically when a repo is made public.

The skill will check repo visibility and warn if private. Recommend making the repo public for open-source projects or personal portfolios.

Workflow

1. Verify gh CLI authentication
   • Confirm gh auth status succeeds
   • Detect collaborator count: gh api "/repos/$REPO/collaborators" --jq length
   • If --reviewers not specified: set to 0 if solo (1 collaborator), else 1
   • Log: "Detected N collaborators, using --reviewers M"
2. Detect project type (MERN, NEAN, iOS)
3. Check repo visibility
   • gh repo view --json visibility -q .visibility
   • If private: skip CodeQL in security.yml, skip secret scanning API calls
   • Log what was skipped and why
4. Configure repository settings
   • gh api PATCH /repos/$REPO with: delete_branch_on_merge, squash-only, disable wiki, auto-merge
   • Conditionally disable forking (org-owned private repos only)
   • Enable Actions to approve PRs: gh api PUT /repos/$REPO/actions/permissions/workflow -F can_approve_pull_request_reviews=true -F default_workflow_permissions=read
5. Detect GitHub username
   • GH_USER=$(gh api user -q .login)
   • Replace your-username with actual username in all template content before writing
   • For SECURITY.md: use GitHub private email [email protected] or omit email
6. Create security configuration files
   • Check if each file already exists (scaffold may have created them)
   • Only create files that are missing
   • If files exist, verify they look correct (right username, right paths)
7. Harden existing workflow files
   • For each .github/workflows/*.yml that lacks a top-level permissions: block, inject one:
     • ci.yml: permissions: { contents: read }
     • pr-check.yml: permissions: { contents: read, pull-requests: write }
     • security.yml: already has permissions (skip)
   • Pin any @main or @master action refs to latest release tags
8. Apply branch protection rules
9. Enable repository security features
10. Verify configuration
    • Run automated verification (see reference: verify-github-secure.sh)
    • Query repo settings and branch protection via gh api
    • Check all workflow files have permissions: blocks
    • Print pass/fail summary

MERN integration notes

When used after /mern-scaffold --github:

• Preserves existing ci.yml workflow
• Adds security.yml for CodeQL analysis (JavaScript/TypeScript)
• Configures Dependabot for npm ecosystem
• CODEOWNERS protects apps/web/src/app/api/ and packages/shared/
• Required status checks: lint-test-build (from ci.yml). Add CodeQL Analysis only if public repo.

NEAN integration notes

When used after /nean-scaffold --github:

• Preserves existing ci.yml workflow
• Adds security.yml for CodeQL analysis (JavaScript/TypeScript)
• Configures Dependabot for npm ecosystem
• CODEOWNERS protects:
  • apps/api/src/modules/ (API modules)
  • libs/shared/types/ (shared DTOs/interfaces)
  • libs/api/auth/ (authentication)
  • libs/api/database/ (entities, migrations)
• Required status check: Lint, Test & Build (from ci.yml job name:). Add CodeQL Analysis only if public repo.
• Dependabot groups Angular, NestJS, and Nx updates separately

iOS integration notes

When used after /ios-scaffold --github:

• Preserves existing ci.yml workflow
• Adds security.yml for CodeQL analysis (Swift)
• Configures Dependabot for Swift Package Manager (if Package.swift exists)
• CODEOWNERS protects App/Sources/Services/ and Config/
• Required status check: Build & Test (from ci.yml job name:). Add CodeQL Analysis only if public repo.

Status Check Context Names

GitHub uses the job name: property (not the YAML key) as the status check context when name: is set. This matters for branch protection required_status_checks.contexts:

Platform	CI Job name:	Status check context
MERN	(none set)	lint-test-build
NEAN	Lint, Test & Build	Lint, Test & Build
iOS	Build & Test	Build & Test

CodeQL: Only add CodeQL Analysis to required status checks for public repos. Private repos without GHAS cannot run CodeQL.

Security policies applied

Branch protection

• No direct pushes to main/master
• PRs require review (unless --ralph-mode)
• PRs require passing CI
• No force pushes (history protection)

Dependency security

• Dependabot alerts enabled
• Weekly dependency updates (grouped)
• Security updates auto-created

Code security

• Secret scanning enabled
• Push protection (blocks commits with secrets)
• CodeQL analysis on PRs

Output

• Files created
• Branch protection rules applied
• Security features enabled
• Auto-merge enabled
• Verification results
• Remind that local hooks via /github-hooks complement this

Reference

For detailed configurations and customization, see reference/github-secure-reference.md