Create a process to manage repository status transitions according to CAMARA states

[albertoramosmonagas]

Problem description
We recently had to manually create two new issues for Repository Incubation Requests:

• Population Density Data
• Device Swap

This manual process requires re-entering a large amount of repetitive data. As more APIs transition through the different CAMARA maturity stages, it becomes increasingly inefficient to manage repository status updates without a structured process.

Expected action
Define and implement a management process (possibly supported by a template or automation) to handle repository status transitions according to CAMARA’s official lifecycle states, such as:

• Sandbox
• Incubating
• Stable
• Archived

This process should reduce manual overhead and ensure consistency across all transitions.

Additional context
The proposed process would centralize repository maturity updates and align with CAMARA’s governance and metadata management. It can build upon the approach used in Issue #215 and Issue #214.

CC: @camaraproject/admins @camaraproject/api-backlog_maintainers

[hdamker]

I fully agree that we should have a documented process and a similar checklist like we have for the Repository Onboarding (aka creating a new Sandbox repository).

There are two variants:

• API Repository get part of an existing Sub Project
• API Repository gets as an own Sub Project
  In the second case there is either an own process to create the Sub Project or additional steps in the Incubating.

But I'm don't think that automation is here very helpful. While there are some smaller tasks to be done, the effort is much lower than for a new Sandbox, and the tasks are distributed over different tools.

For GitHub we have mainly:

• Prerequisite: CODEOWNERS and MAINTAINERS.md files reviewed, changes as agreed in (new) Sub Project executed
• Align repository README.md with current template for Incubating API Repositories (replace badge, change intro sentence, add Sub Project link)
• Change API Description, especially replace topic "sandbox-api-repository" with "incubating-api-repository" (important for automation and reporting)

In wiki:

• Prerequisite: all information on the API Repository wiki page and sub pages are up-to-date
• Change Label and Flag (?) on API Repository page from "Sandbox" to "Incubating"
• Move page tree under Sub Project

[albertoramosmonagas]

I fully agree that we should have a documented process and a similar checklist like we have for the Repository Onboarding (aka creating a new Sandbox repository).

There are two variants:

• API Repository get part of an existing Sub Project
• API Repository gets as an own Sub Project
  In the second case there is either an own process to create the Sub Project or additional steps in the Incubating.

But I'm don't think that automation is here very helpful. While there are some smaller tasks to be done, the effort is much lower than for a new Sandbox, and the tasks are distributed over different tools.

For GitHub we have mainly:

• Prerequisite: CODEOWNERS and MAINTAINERS.md files reviewed, changes as agreed in (new) Sub Project executed
• Align repository README.md with current template for Incubating API Repositories (replace badge, change intro sentence, add Sub Project link)
• Change API Description, especially replace topic "sandbox-api-repository" with "incubating-api-repository" (important for automation and reporting)

In wiki:

• Prerequisite: all information on the API Repository wiki page and sub pages are up-to-date
• Change Label and Flag (?) on API Repository page from "Sandbox" to "Incubating"
• Move page tree under Sub Project

Thank you for the detailed feedback — it's been very helpful.

We've updated the Repository Status Transition Request template to reflect your suggestions. Specifically: https://github.com/camaraproject/APIBacklog/pull/221/files

• We've included the distinction between APIs joining an existing Sub Project and those requiring the creation of a new one.

• We’ve added GitHub-related tasks such as updating README.md, reviewing CODEOWNERS and MAINTAINERS.md, and changing the repository topic from sandbox-api-repository to incubating-api-repository.

• Wiki tasks have also been integrated, including label updates and moving the page tree under the corresponding Sub Project space.

Let us know if there’s anything else you’d like to see added.