Choosing what the Steward looks after

Pick the repositories the Steward looks after from those Reeve found, say whether each may be merged and released, and read the Your repositories table.

Article: 1302
Applies to: Steward 0.35.0
Last reviewed: October 9, 2026
For: For developers

Written for Steward 0.35.0. Steward is at 0.35.1 now (1 small release since: what changed).

Nothing is looked after until you pick it#

The Steward starts with no repositories. It offers the ones it could look after, and you pick them.

Found on this PC#

Found on this PC, on the Steward's page, lists your repositories that:

Reeve found on this PC (see Your repositories in Reeve);
have their origin on GitHub;
the account gh is signed in as can push to.

It leaves out the ones the Steward looks after already, and the ones you told Reeve to Leave alone. The list is kept for an hour; Look again looks now.

Beside each repository are two ticks, both off unless you tick them:

Merge my ready PRs: the Steward merges your pull requests to it once they're ready. Off, they're listed and left to you. See How the Steward merges pull requests.
Release each new version: when its branch has a version with no GitHub release yet, the Steward releases it. See How the Steward releases.

Then:

Look after takes on that one repository.
To take on several in one go, tick the box beside each one (or All), and choose Look after the picked. Each keeps its own two ticks.

What Look after fills in#

It reads the repository's clone, at its branch's tip, and fills in:

What	Filled in with
How to test it	`npm run typecheck && npm test`, when `package.json` has those scripts; `cargo test` for Rust; `go test ./...` for Go; `dotnet test` on its unit tests for .NET.
The files its version is in	`package.json` and `package-lock.json`; a `src/*.ts` file with the same `version: 'x.y.z'` or `VERSION = 'x.y.z'`; a `.csproj` or `Directory.Build.props` with `<VersionPrefix>`.
How to release it, if you ticked Release each new version	Its own `npm run release`, when `package.json` has a `release` script; otherwise `tag`, a GitHub release the Steward makes itself.

Where the list lives#

The repository goes into Castellan's Settings > Repositories, the one list that every developer agent reads. Change a repository, or stop the Steward looking after it, there. See Your own repositories.

Each field in that list, as the Steward uses it:

Castellan's field	What the Steward does with it
Repository	The GitHub repository, as `owner/name`. The Steward looks after only repositories that have one.
Checkout	Your clone. The Steward fetches in it and makes worktrees of it in its work folder; it never changes your working tree.
Branch	Where pull requests go, and where releases come from.
Tests	Run in a worktree of a pull request before it merges, when GitHub runs no checks on it. With none, such a pull request waits for you.
Version files	Where the version is read, and where a catch-up sets a new one.
Release	`tag`, or a command. Empty: never released.
The Steward merges ready pull requests	The same as Merge my ready PRs.

What the Steward won't look after#

A repository with no GitHub repository given: it has no pull requests or releases for the Steward to see.
Castellan's own repositories. Look after, claim-version and saving the setting each refuse one, and say why.

A repository of yours that shares a name with one of Castellan's agents is looked after under an id of its own, such as porter-2.

The Your repositories table#

Column	What it says
Repository	Its name, linked to GitHub, and two badges for what it may do (below).
Checkout	Your clone's path, the branch it's on, and how many files are changed there; "no checkout at" when the folder is gone.
Branch on origin	The branch on GitHub, with its version and its head commit.
Latest release	Its newest GitHub release, and whether the branch's version is still to be released.
Release PC	Which PC has its turn to merge and release it. See The Steward on several PCs.
Notes	Anything to know about it, when there is something.

Under a repository with open pull requests is a row for each: its title and branch, whose it is (team for your team's), what it asks for once merged, and badges for its checks (checks passing, pending, failing, or none when GitHub runs none), whether it merges (mergeable or conflicting), draft, and into another branch than the repository's.

The badges:

merges or PRs left to you: whether the Steward merges its ready pull requests.
releases or not released: whether it has a way to release this repository.

The table is made again after each round or button (from a fresh look at GitHub), on Refresh, and when you open the page after 10 minutes with no round. Opening the page doesn't ask GitHub anything while the rounds run.

Is this page right?

If something on it is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix the page.

Still stuck? Write to support@castellan-software.com and mention article 1302. Every version of Steward, and what changed in it, is in its release notes.