Install Fwozen

Fwozen blocks merges with a required GitHub check run named fwozen. Installing takes about ninety seconds; making the check required is the step that turns a red X into an actual block, so this page spends most of its words there.

Before you start

• GitHub Cloud. GitHub Enterprise Server, GitLab, and Bitbucket are not supported yet.
• Someone with admin on at least one repository, for the enforcement step. If that is not you, Fwozen can generate a single-use setup link for an admin — you do not have to wait on a calendar invite.

1. Install the GitHub App

Choose All repositories unless you have a reason not to. Selected repositories is fine too — Fwozen only counts private repos you explicitly enable, so a wide installation does not cost you anything.

2. Enable the repositories you care about

Fwozen reads your repository list and shows open pull request counts and last-push times, so you can tell which repositories are actually alive. Enable them individually, in bulk, or with a glob:

services/**        matches 14 repositories
*-api              matches 3 repositories
!archived-*        excludes archived work

3. Watch a branch

Start with one branch — usually main on the repository with the most open pull requests. Watching a branch is what tells Fwozen where to write the check and whose rules to read.

4. Make the fwozen check required

This is the make-or-break step. Until fwozen is a required status check on the branch, a freeze is advisory: the check will fail, and anyone with merge rights can merge anyway. Fwozen offers two paths and is honest about the trade-off.

One-click. You authorize with GitHub as yourself and Fwozen writes the ruleset. GitHub’s audit log shows a human, because the app itself never holds administration: write. We keep that authorization encrypted so the rule can be repaired if it drifts, and you can revoke it in GitHub at any time.

Copy and paste. If you manage rules as code, run this and Fwozen will detect the rule within about thirty seconds:

gh api -X POST repos/acme/api-server/rulesets \
  -f name='fwozen' \
  -f target='branch' \
  -f enforcement='active' \
  -F conditions[ref_name][include][]='refs/heads/main' \
  -F rules[][type]='required_status_checks' \
  -F 'rules[][parameters][required_status_checks][][context]=fwozen'

5. Verify it would actually block a merge

Fwozen reads GitHub’s effective rules for the branch and shows a traffic light with one sentence of plain language, plus a “verified 12s ago” badge fed by the reconciler. Green means we have checked that a freeze would hold. Amber and red both tell you exactly what is wrong and offer the fix.

If fwozen is not in GitHub’s dropdown

GitHub only lists checks that have completed successfully in the past seven days. Fwozen seeds the check on install to pre-empt this dead end, and re-seeds quiet repositories every five days. If the list is still empty, use the one-click path — it writes the rule directly rather than going through the dropdown.

Next: your first freeze.