Using GitHub Actions to add Labels Automatically

An auto-labeler in GitHub is a handy tool that automatically applies labels to issues and pull requests, following specific guidelines you set. It's a great choice to boost your team's productivity, keep label assignments consistent, minimize mistakes, automate essential workflows, improve your ability to find and organize items and ensure your project can smoothly grow while making life easier for both contributors and project managers. By simplifying and streamlining the labelling process, GitHub's auto-labeler enhances collaboration and project organization.

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Setting up an auto labeler

1. On the workflows(actions tab)/ marketplace page, search for the GitHub action called labeler . You can also click the image below, it should redirect you to the repository.

   

   1. Set up this workflow by clicking on Configure . A .yml file should appear. Rename it to labeler.yml .

   2. Commit the file. The code structure should look something like this:

       # This workflow will triage pull requests and apply a label based on the
       # paths that are modified in the pull request.
       #
       # To use this workflow, you will need to set up a .github/labeler.yml
       # file with configuration.  For more information, see:
       # https://github.com/actions/labeler
      
       name: Labeler
       on: [pull_request_target]
      
       jobs:
         label:
      
           runs-on: ubuntu-latest
           permissions:
             contents: read
             pull-requests: write
      
           steps:
           - uses: actions/labeler@v4
             with:
               repo-token: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
      

      1. Now we need a file to write labels. create a .github/labeler.yml file. There are two labeler files here. one in .github folder and another in .github/workflows folder.

      2. Visit it's page on Marketplace. They have some great examples on how write labels for different folders.

          label1:
            - folder1/**
         
          label2: 
            - folder2/subfolder1/*
         

         This is a basic example. The /* indicates that changes made in that very folder or subfolder should be marked with label2. The /** indicates that for any changes made in that folder or any subfolder inside that folder, label1 be added.

Some possible errors

1. Make sure the two folders are .github/workflows/labeler.yml and .github/labeler.yml .

2. The * symbol is basically like passing a folder. Make sure to use it as per folder structure. For files in a subfolder, add a **/* .

3. Avoid writing duplicate labels. If you want to give the same label to different files, prefer this:

    common label: 
      - folder1/**
      - folder2/subfolder1/*
      - '**/*.txt'
      - '**/file.md'
      - '**/README.md'
   

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Thank You!