---
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
</pre>

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

![create repo screenshot](/images/posts/create-repo-init.png)

### .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
</pre>


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