github / github/app

[Requests and ideas] Folder/Collection projects don't support per-repo default branches

Open
#786 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Requests and ideas
Dominant language
No language data
Stars
2.1k
Forks
153
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

**Mood:** 😊
**Category:** Requests and ideas

Folder/Collection projects don't support per-repo default branches
Problem

When creating a new session in a collection project (a folder containing multiple git repositories), the app doesn't respect or allow configuration of default branches for each child repository.

Current Behavior

Individual repository projects have a default_branch field in the projects table
Collection projects have an empty default_branch field
The collection_members table (which tracks child repos) has no default_branch column
When creating a new worktree session for a collection, there's no way to specify which branch each child repo should branch from
The app appears to use the main checkout's current branch, not a configured default
Expected Behavior

Collections should support per-repository default branch configuration, so that when creating a new session:

repo-a branches from development
repo-b branches from main
repo-c branches from master
Each child repository in the collection should be able to have its own default branch configured.

Impact

This makes collection projects difficult to use in multi-repo workflows where different repositories follow different branching conventions (e.g., main vs development vs master).

---
| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| App version | 0.2.24 |
| OS | macOS 26.5.1 |
| Theme | GitHub |
| Path | /chat |
| Tenure | Day 2 (Week 1) |

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by tracing collection session creation and how the projects and collection_members tables supply branch information. Compare the existing project default_branch behavior with collection members, then verify that a new session can use a distinct configured branch for each child repository, including main, development, and master.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
git
Domain
database, desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.