Repository Configuration

Configure repositories for Simili Bot

Repository Configuration

Configure which repositories Simili Bot manages. The behavior of the repositories field varies by deployment pattern.

Pattern-Specific Behavior

Pattern	Behavior
Pattern A	List only the current repository.
Pattern B	List all target repositories in the control repo’s config.
Pattern C	Each repository lists only itself (usually inheriting shared defaults).

Basic Configuration

Each repository in your list gets processed by Simili Bot:

repositories:
  - org: "github-org-or-username"
    repo: "repository-name"
    enabled: true
    description: "Brief description of repository"

Configuration Options

Required Fields

repositories:
  - org: "my-org"          # GitHub organization or username
    repo: "my-repo"        # Repository name

Optional Fields

repositories:
  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "backend"
    enabled: true              # Enable/disable Simili Bot (default: true)
    description: "Backend..."  # For LLM routing decisions
    labels:                    # Associated labels
      - "backend"
      - "api"

Full Reference

Field	Type	Description	Default	Required
org	string	GitHub org or username	-	Yes
repo	string	Repository name	-	Yes
enabled	boolean	Enable Simili Bot for this repo	true	No
description	string	Description for LLM routing	-	No
labels	array	Associated labels	-	No

Single Repository

Manage one repository:

repositories:
  - org: "my-username"
    repo: "my-project"
    enabled: true
    description: "My open source project"

Configuration applies to all issues in this repository.

Multiple Repositories

Manage multiple repositories with shared configuration:

repositories:
  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "backend"
    enabled: true
    description: "Backend REST APIs and microservices"
    labels: ["backend", "api"]

  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "frontend"
    enabled: true
    description: "React web application and UI components"
    labels: ["frontend", "ui"]

  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "mobile"
    enabled: true
    description: "React Native mobile applications"
    labels: ["mobile", "ios", "android"]

  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "infrastructure"
    enabled: false  # Temporarily disabled
    description: "Terraform and DevOps infrastructure"
    labels: ["devops", "infrastructure"]

Disable Specific Repositories

Temporarily disable Simili Bot for a repository:

repositories:
  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "experimental"
    enabled: false  # Bot will skip this repo
    description: "Experimental branch - no automation"

When enabled: false:

• Simili Bot skips processing
• No comments posted
• No indexing to vector database
• Re-enable by changing to enabled: true

Repository Descriptions

Descriptions help Simili Bot make better routing decisions:

repositories:
  - org: "company"
    repo: "backend"
    description: "REST APIs, database layer, authentication, core business logic"

  - org: "company"
    repo: "frontend"
    description: "React web UI, responsive design, user dashboard, forms"

  - org: "company"
    repo: "docs"
    description: "User documentation, API guides, tutorials, how-to articles"

Good descriptions:

• Explain the repository’s purpose
• List main components
• Help the LLM understand the domain
• Are 1-3 sentences

Poor descriptions:

• “The backend”
• “Code repository”
• “Project files”

Using Labels

Associate labels with repositories for organization:

repositories:
  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "mobile"
    labels: ["mobile", "ios", "android", "react-native"]

  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "backend"
    labels: ["backend", "api", "go", "microservices"]

  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "frontend"
    labels: ["frontend", "react", "typescript", "ui"]

Labels help:

• Organize issues semantically
• Route issues to correct repositories
• Filter searches
• Team identification

Configuration Inheritance

Share repository configurations across projects:

Base Configuration

Create .github/base-config.yaml:

defaults:
  similarity_threshold: 0.70
  max_similar_to_show: 5
  cross_repo_search: true

repositories:
  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "backend"
    description: "Backend services"

  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "frontend"
    description: "Web UI"

Extend with Repository-Specific

Create .github/simili.yaml:

extends: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/my-org/policies/main/base-config.yaml"

# Override specific settings
repositories:
  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "my-service"
    enabled: true
    description: "My specific service"

Benefits:

• Consistency across projects
• Single source of truth for policies
• Easy updates to shared settings
• Per-repository customization

Common Patterns

Team-Based Organization

repositories:
  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "backend"
    description: "Backend team: APIs, databases, auth"
    labels: ["team:backend"]

  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "frontend"
    description: "Frontend team: UI, web, client"
    labels: ["team:frontend"]

  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "infra"
    description: "Infra team: DevOps, deployment"
    labels: ["team:infra"]

Domain-Based Organization

repositories:
  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "payment-service"
    description: "Payment processing, billing, transactions"
    labels: ["domain:payments"]

  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "user-service"
    description: "User management, profiles, authentication"
    labels: ["domain:users"]

  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "notification-service"
    description: "Emails, SMS, push notifications"
    labels: ["domain:notifications"]

Maturity-Based

repositories:
  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "stable-api"
    description: "Production APIs - stable and maintained"
    enabled: true

  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "beta-features"
    description: "Beta functionality - use with caution"
    enabled: true

  - org: "my-org"
    repo: "deprecated-lib"
    description: "Legacy library - maintenance mode only"
    enabled: false  # Don't process new issues

Organization Structure

Single Organization

If your company is one organization:

repositories:
  - org: "my-company"
    repo: "backend"
    # ... more repos

All repos use the same org.

Multiple Organizations

If you have multiple organizations:

repositories:
  - org: "open-source-org"
    repo: "project1"
    enabled: true

  - org: "company-org"
    repo: "internal-service"
    enabled: true

  - org: "my-personal-account"
    repo: "personal-project"
    enabled: false

Mix different orgs in one configuration.

Validation

Simili Bot validates repositories on startup:

Check:

• Repository exists and is accessible
• GitHub token has required permissions
• Organization name is correct

If invalid:

• Error message will indicate which repo failed
• Pipeline exits without processing
• Fix configuration and retry

Cross-Repository Search

Enable searching across all configured repositories:

defaults:
  cross_repo_search: true  # Search all repos
  similarity_threshold: 0.70
  max_similar_to_show: 5

With cross_repo_search: true:

• Similarity search returns issues from all repositories
• Helps identify duplicate discussions across projects
• Enables holistic issue management

With cross_repo_search: false:

• Only search within current repository
• Reduces noise from unrelated projects
• Better for independent projects

Best Practices

1. Use Meaningful Names

# Good
- org: "acme-corp"
  repo: "customer-api"

# Vague
- org: "acme-corp"
  repo: "service1"

2. Provide Descriptions

# Good - clear purpose
description: "REST API for customer data, handling CRUD operations"

# Vague
description: "API service"

3. Consistent Organization

# All together by team
- org: "same-org"
  repo: "team-a-service"
- org: "same-org"
  repo: "team-a-lib"

4. Enable Cross-Repo Search

defaults:
  cross_repo_search: true  # Help identify org-wide duplicates

5. Document in Comments

# Production microservices
repositories:
  - org: "company"
    repo: "auth-service"  # User authentication

  # Infrastructure and tooling
  - org: "company"
    repo: "infrastructure"  # Terraform configs

Next Steps

Transfer Rules

Setup automatic issue routing

Multi-Repo Pattern Comparison

Compare centralized vs distributed setups