ISO Compliant Main-Only Repository Template

This repository is a governance-only GitHub template for production-grade repositories that use main as the only long-lived branch.

Intended Use

Use this template for repositories where:

• main is the production-ready source of truth.
• Work is done on short-lived branches.
• All changes enter main through pull requests.
• Release impact is tracked using PR labels.
• Branch protection, CI checks, and review evidence are required.

Default Branching Model

• main is protected.
• Short-lived branches use names such as feature/<ticket-id>-short-name, fix/<ticket-id>-short-name, or hotfix/<ticket-id>-short-name.
• Pull requests target main.
• Squash merge is acceptable for short-lived branches.
• Release versions should be created from protected v* tags or reviewed release PRs.

Included Governance Files

• .github/pull_request_template.md
• .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/production_change.yml
• .github/workflows/validate-release-label.yml
• .github/examples/main-branch-protection-strict.json
• CODEOWNERS
• docs/github-labels.md
• github-compliance-engineering-guidance.md

Required Setup After Creating a Repository

GitHub template repositories copy files, but they do not reliably copy all repository settings, labels, branch protection, or rulesets.

After creating a repository from this template:

1. Create the recommended labels from docs/github-labels.md.
2. Update CODEOWNERS with real teams or users.
3. Apply the strict main branch protection example from .github/examples/main-branch-protection-strict.json.
4. Confirm the release-label workflow runs on pull requests to main.
5. Confirm force pushes and branch deletion are disabled for main.

Compliance Position

This template supports ISO 27001-aligned change control, traceability, review, and release governance. It does not make a repository compliant by itself. Teams must still configure access control, secrets, CI checks, deployment approvals, monitoring, and data handling according to repository risk.