Some useful Claude Code prompts for GitHub repository management.

1. Archive stale repositories

Using the GitHub CLI (gh), find all of my repositories that haven't
been pushed to in over 5 years and archive them. List them first and
ask for my confirmation before archiving. Use gh repo list <user>
--limit 1000 --json name,pushedAt to get the data, then filter by
date, and archive with gh repo archive <user>/<repo> --yes.

2. Add missing descriptions

Using the GitHub CLI, find all of my repositories that have an empty
or missing description. Use gh repo list <user> --limit 1000 --json
name,description,url to get the data. For each repo missing a
description, look at the repo's README and any other context to
suggest an appropriate description. Present your suggestions to me
for approval, then apply them using gh repo edit <user>/<repo>
--description "<description>".

3. Add missing topics/tags

Using the GitHub CLI, find all of my repositories that have no topics.
Use gh repo list <user> --limit 1000 --json name,repositoryTopics,
description,primaryLanguage to get the data. For each repo with no
topics, analyze the repo name, description, and primary language to
suggest relevant topics. Present your suggestions for approval, then
apply them using gh api -X PUT repos/<user>/<repo>/topics
-f '{"names":["tag1","tag2"]}'.

To make #1 easier, repjan is a TUI tool that pulls all your repos into an interactive dashboard. It flags archive candidates based on inactivity and engagement, lets you filter and sort through everything, and batch archive in one sweep. If you’ve got hundreds of repos piling up, it’s way faster than doing it one by one.