Details#

The Details page provides Dosu with additional context about your repository and lets you set deployment metadata.

Name is the value displayed for your deployment in the app.
Go-to Expert is the maintainer Dosu tags when it needs a maintainer and no maintainer has participated yet (for example, stale issue follow-ups).
Description gives Dosu more context about the repository.
Response Guidelines customize how Dosu formats and structures its responses.
Connected Data Sources control what Dosu can reference when replying.
Settings lets you pause, resume, or delete the deployment.

Data Source Configuration#

Include file patterns#

When configuring a GitHub or GitLab data source, you can specify file patterns to control which files are indexed. Only files matching these patterns will be indexed. Leave empty to index all files (subject to ignored patterns).

How it works:

Specify one pattern per line using glob syntax (see Unix wildcards for syntax details)
Ignored file patterns are evaluated first - if a file matches an ignored pattern, it will not be indexed
If include file patterns are specified, files must match at least one pattern to be indexed
If no include file patterns are specified, all files are considered for indexing (subject to ignored patterns)

Common examples:

*.md - index only Markdown files
docs/** - index only files in the docs directory and its subdirectories
src/**/*.ts - index only TypeScript files in the src directory
backend/** - index only files in a specific subdirectory

Combined with Ignored File Patterns:

Include file patterns work together with ignored file patterns. A file is indexed only if:

It does not match any ignored patterns
It matches at least one include file pattern (when include file patterns are specified)

For example, if you specify src/** as an include file pattern and *.test.ts as an ignored pattern, Dosu will index all files in the src directory except test files.

Issues#

The Issues settings determine how Dosu behaves on the repository’s issues.

Note: If issues are disabled for the repository, Dosu will show a message and skip this section.

Agent Reply Behavior#

This setting controls when Dosu responds.

Mention: Dosu only responds when explicitly tagged with @dosu.
Auto Draft: Dosu generates response drafts for review in the Review page.
Auto Reply: Dosu posts responses automatically without review.

Auto-Label Issues#

These settings determine whether Dosu auto-labels issues and which labels it can use.

Dosu will only consider the labels you select. If a label is not selected, Dosu will never apply it.

Dosu chooses labels based on the issue title, description, and how similar issues were labeled in the past.

Best practices:

Add prefixes for related labels, like status:duplicate or status:invalid.
Leave unselected labels that won’t be obvious from the issue itself, such as org or workflow labels (org:team-name, sprint:132, status:wont-fix).

Stale Bot#

These settings control Dosu’s smart stale bot.

If enabled, Dosu posts a stale comment summarizing issue activity, applies the stale label, and closes issues after the close window. Configure:

Days until issue is marked stale
Days until stale issue is closed
Max issues close per day
Tag maintainer on response (Dosu tags a maintainer, or adds a 👍 if a maintainer already replied)
Labels to exclude

Encourage Issue Voting#

This setting determines if Dosu applies a 👍 to every new (non-bot) issue.

Pull Requests#

Pull Request settings determine how Dosu behaves on PRs. These features rely on GitHub App pull request permissions so Dosu can read PR metadata and file changes and apply labels. Dosu does not open or merge PRs.

Auto-Label Pull Requests#

These settings determine whether Dosu auto-labels pull requests and which labels it can use.

Dosu considers the PR title, body, diff summary, and changed files when selecting labels. Label selection works the same way as Auto-Label Issues.

Add LGTM Label#

When enabled, Dosu adds an LGTM label after a user with write access approves a review.

If the label doesn’t exist, Dosu will create it automatically.

Add Size Labels#

When enabled, Dosu labels PRs by diff size (for example size:XS, size:S, size:M, size:L, size:XL, size:XXL).

Size is based on total line changes, excluding auto-generated files detected via .gitattributes.

Self-Documenting PRs#

When enabled, Dosu updates your published documentation in your Dosu knowledge base and posts a summary comment on the PR. Dosu does not open PRs to modify repository files.

Monitored Paths#

You can configure which directories trigger documentation staleness checks for Self-Documenting PRs. This is useful for focusing documentation checks on specific parts of your repository.

How to configure:

The Monitored Paths setting provides a visual directory picker with two options:

All paths: All file changes in the repository trigger documentation checks (default behavior)
Specific paths: Choose specific directories from an interactive tree view of your repository structure

When you select Specific paths, the interface displays a hierarchical tree of directories from your indexed codebase. You can:

Browse through your repository structure
Select individual directories or parent directories to include all subdirectories
See visual indicators for selected paths
The selection automatically includes all files within chosen directories

The setting is disabled when Self-Documenting PRs is disabled.

Note: The directory picker loads from your indexed codebase. Under the hood, selected directories are stored as glob patterns (e.g., src/** for the src directory).

Example use cases:

Focus checks on source code directories while ignoring build or test files
Monitor only documentation directories that correspond to your knowledge base
Target specific areas of the codebase that contain implementation details relevant to your documentation

To manually trigger a documentation staleness check on a pull request, comment /dosu-refresh on the PR.

Discussions#

Discussion settings determine how Dosu responds on GitHub Discussions.

Note: If Discussions are disabled for the repository, Dosu will show a message and skip this section.

Agent Reply Behavior#

Same options as Issues:

Mention
Auto Draft
Auto Reply

Included Categories#

When Auto Draft or Auto Reply is enabled, choose which discussion categories Dosu is active in.

By default, Dosu is active in Q&A and Questions.