---

kind: change

title: Initialize a repository when creating

created_at: 2012-9-28

author_name: pengwynn

---

Today we've made it easier to add commits to a repository via the GitHub API.

Until now, you could [create a repository](/v3/repos/#create), but you would

need to initialize it locally via your Git client before adding any commits via

the API.

Now you can optionally init a repository when it's created by sending `true`

for the `auto_init` parameter:

<pre class="terminal">

curl -i -u pengwynn \

-d '{"name": "create-repo-test", "auto_init": true}' \

https://api.github.com/user/repos

The resulting repository will have a README stub and an initial commit.


### .gitignore templates

Along with this change, you can set up your `.gitignore` template by passing

the basename of any template in the [GitHub gitignore templates

project](https://github.com/github/gitignore).

<pre class="terminal">

curl -i -u pengwynn \

-d '{"name": "create-repo-test", "auto_init": true, \

"gitignore_template": "Haskell"}' \

https://api.github.com/user/repos

As the [docs point out](/v3/repos/#create), the `gitignore_template` parameter

is ignored if `auto_init` is not present and `true`.

If you have any questions or feedback, drop us a line at

[https://github.com/contact][c], [support@github.com][email], or

[@GitHubAPI][twitter].

[twitter]: https://twitter.com/githubapi

[email]: mailto:support@github.com

[c]: https://github.com/c

:technoweenie => '821395fe70906c8290df7f18ac4ac6cf',

:pengwynn => '7e19cd5486b5d6dc1ef90e671ba52ae0'