Automatic Labeling System

February 15, 2026 · View on GitHub

Overview

This repository uses an automatic labeling system to apply labels to pull requests based on the files changed, PR title, and PR body content. This helps organize and categorize PRs efficiently.

Components

1. Labeler Configuration (.github/labeler.yml)

Defines rules for automatically applying labels based on:

  • File paths: Labels are applied when specific files or patterns are changed
  • PR title: Labels are applied based on conventional commit prefixes (e.g., feat:, fix:, docs:)
  • PR body: Labels are applied based on checkboxes in PR descriptions
  • Change size: Automatic size labels based on number of files changed

2. Setup Labels Workflow (.github/workflows/setup-labels.yml)

A manual workflow that creates and updates all repository labels with:

  • Consistent colors
  • Clear descriptions
  • Option to recreate all labels from scratch

To run this workflow:

  1. Go to Actions → Setup Repository Labels
  2. Click Run workflow
  3. Choose whether to recreate all labels (optional)
  4. Wait for completion

3. Labeler Workflow (.github/workflows/labeler.yml)

An automatic workflow that runs on every pull request to apply labels based on the configuration in labeler.yml.

Triggers:

  • When a PR is opened
  • When a PR is synchronized (new commits)
  • When a PR is reopened
  • When a PR is edited

Label Categories

🚀 Features and Enhancements

  • feature - New feature or request
  • enhancement - Enhancement to existing functionality

🐛 Bug Fixes

  • bug - Something isn't working

🎨 UI/UX

  • ui - User interface improvements
  • design - Design and styling updates

🌐 Internationalization

  • i18n - Internationalization and localization (automatically applied when translation files are changed)

🏗️ Infrastructure & DevOps

  • infrastructure - CI/CD and infrastructure
  • deployment - Deployment-related changes
  • performance - Performance improvements
  • config - Configuration changes

🔄 Code Quality

  • refactor - Code refactoring
  • quality-checks - Quality checks and validation

🔒 Security & Compliance

  • security - Security improvements
  • compliance - Compliance and ISMS-related
  • accessibility - Accessibility improvements

📝 Documentation

  • documentation - Documentation updates

📦 Dependencies

  • dependencies - Dependency updates

🤖 GitHub Copilot & AI

  • copilot - GitHub Copilot configuration
  • agents - GitHub Copilot agents
  • skills - GitHub Copilot skills

📄 Content Types

  • content-pages - Main website pages
  • content-blog - Blog content
  • content-projects - Project showcase pages
  • content-isms - ISMS policy pages
  • content-services - Services and industries

🖼️ Assets

  • assets - Images, icons, and media files

🎯 SEO & Analytics

  • seo - SEO and sitemap changes

🔍 Specific Areas

  • area-homepage - Homepage changes
  • area-cia - Citizen Intelligence Agency
  • area-blacktrigram - Black Trigram game
  • area-compliance - Compliance Manager

📊 Size Labels

  • size-xs - Extra small change (1-10 files)
  • size-s - Small change (11-30 files)
  • size-m - Medium change (31-100 files)
  • size-l - Large change (101-500 files)
  • size-xl - Extra large change (500+ files)

Priority Labels

  • priority-high - High priority
  • priority-medium - Medium priority
  • priority-low - Low priority

Workflow Labels

  • good first issue - Good for newcomers
  • help wanted - Extra attention is needed
  • wontfix - This will not be worked on
  • duplicate - This issue or pull request already exists
  • invalid - This doesn't seem right
  • question - Further information is requested

Usage

For PR Authors

Automatic Labeling

Labels are automatically applied based on the files you change. For example:

  • Changing *.html files → content-pages label
  • Changing files with _sv.html, _de.html, etc. → i18n label
  • Changing .github/workflows/* → infrastructure label
  • Changing SECURITY.md → security label

Manual Labeling via PR Title

Use conventional commit prefixes in your PR title:

  • feat: or feature: → feature label
  • fix: or bug: → bug label
  • docs: or doc: → documentation label
  • perf: or optimize: → performance label
  • refactor: → refactor label
  • security: → security label

Manual Labeling via PR Body

Add checkboxes to your PR description:

  • - [x] 🚀 New Feature/Enhancement → feature label
  • - [x] 🐛 Bug Fix → bug label
  • - [x] 🎨 UI/UX Improvements → ui label
  • - [x] 🏗️ Infrastructure & DevOps → infrastructure label
  • - [x] 🔒 Security & Compliance → security label
  • - [x] 📝 Documentation → documentation label
  • - [x] 📦 Dependencies Update → dependencies label

For Repository Maintainers

Initial Setup

  1. Run the Setup Repository Labels workflow to create all labels
  2. The Labeler workflow will automatically start working on new PRs

Updating Label Configuration

  1. Edit .github/labeler.yml to add or modify labeling rules
  2. Commit and push changes
  3. New rules will apply to subsequent PRs

Updating Label Definitions

  1. Edit .github/workflows/setup-labels.yml to modify label colors or descriptions
  2. Commit and push changes
  3. Run the Setup Repository Labels workflow to apply updates

Examples

Example 1: Translating a page to Swedish

Files changed:

  • services_sv.html

Labels automatically applied:

  • i18n (internationalization)
  • content-services (services content)
  • size-xs (1 file changed)

Example 2: Adding a new blog post in all languages

Files changed:

  • blog-new-post.html
  • blog-new-post_sv.html
  • blog-new-post_de.html
  • blog-new-post_es.html
  • ... (13+ language variants)

Labels automatically applied:

  • content-blog (blog content)
  • i18n (internationalization)
  • size-s or size-m (depending on file count)

Example 3: Updating CI/CD pipeline

Files changed:

  • .github/workflows/main.yml

PR title:

  • ci: Optimize deployment to S3

Labels automatically applied:

  • infrastructure (workflow file changed)
  • deployment (main.yml changed)
  • size-xs (1 file changed)

Example 4: Security fix

Files changed:

  • SECURITY.md
  • SECURITY_ARCHITECTURE.md
  • .github/workflows/scorecards.yml

PR title:

  • security: Update security documentation and workflow

Labels automatically applied:

  • security (security files changed + title prefix)
  • documentation (markdown files changed)
  • infrastructure (workflow changed)
  • size-xs (3 files changed)

Troubleshooting

Labels not being applied?

  1. Check that the Setup Repository Labels workflow has been run at least once
  2. Verify that the .github/labeler.yml file exists in the default branch
  3. Check the Labeler workflow logs in the Actions tab
  4. Confirm the labeler workflow run completed successfully for the PR (including fork PRs); the workflow uses pull_request_target, so it can label forks as long as it does not check out or execute untrusted PR code

Need to add a new label?

  1. Add the label definition to .github/workflows/setup-labels.yml
  2. Add the labeling rule to .github/labeler.yml
  3. Run the Setup Repository Labels workflow
  4. New PRs will use the updated configuration

Labels applied incorrectly?

  1. Review the rules in .github/labeler.yml
  2. Adjust file patterns or conditions as needed
  3. Manually remove incorrect labels from the PR
  4. Update the configuration for future PRs

Best Practices

  1. Use conventional commit prefixes in PR titles for consistent labeling
  2. Include checkboxes in PR descriptions to trigger specific labels
  3. Run Setup Labels workflow after adding new label types
  4. Review automatically applied labels and adjust manually if needed
  5. Keep labeler.yml updated as the repository structure evolves
  6. Document new label categories when adding significant new labels

Security Considerations

The labeler workflow uses pull_request_target trigger which:

  • Runs in the context of the base repository (not the fork)
  • Has write access to apply labels
  • Is hardened with step-security/harden-runner for audit logging
  • Uses minimal permissions: contents:read, pull-requests:write, issues:write
  • Does not check out or execute untrusted PR code

This ensures safe operation even when processing PRs from untrusted forks, as long as the workflow does not check out or run code from the PR.

Maintenance

Regular Tasks

  • Quarterly: Review label usage and consolidate unused labels
  • When needed: Update .github/labeler.yml for new file patterns
  • When needed: Update .github/workflows/setup-labels.yml for new label types

Monitoring

  • Check the Actions tab for workflow failures
  • Review PRs to ensure labels are applied correctly
  • Gather feedback from contributors about labeling accuracy

References

Last Updated: 2026-02-15
Maintained By: Hack23 DevOps Team