Add option to add README when creating a project

app/assets/stylesheets/pages/settings.scss

@@ -191,6 +191,22 @@
   }
 }
 
+.initialize-with-readme-setting {
+  .form-check {
+    margin-bottom: 10px;
+
+    .option-title {
+      font-weight: $gl-font-weight-normal;
+      display: inline-block;
+      color: $gl-text-color;
+    }
+
+    .option-description {
+      color: $project-option-descr-color;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 .prometheus-metrics-monitoring {
   .card {
     .card-toggle {

app/controllers/projects_controller.rb

@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@ class ProjectsController < Projects::ApplicationController
       :visibility_level,
       :template_name,
       :merge_method,
+      :initialize_with_readme,
 
       project_feature_attributes: %i[
         builds_access_level

app/services/projects/create_service.rb

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ module Projects
   class CreateService < BaseService
     def initialize(user, params)
       @current_user, @params = user, params.dup
+      @skip_wiki = @params.delete(:skip_wiki)
+      @initialize_with_readme = Gitlab::Utils.to_boolean(@params.delete(:initialize_with_readme))
     end
 
     def execute
@@ -11,7 +13,6 @@ module Projects
 
       forked_from_project_id = params.delete(:forked_from_project_id)
       import_data = params.delete(:import_data)
-      @skip_wiki = params.delete(:skip_wiki)
 
       @project = Project.new(params)
 
@@ -102,6 +103,8 @@ module Projects
       setup_authorizations
 
       current_user.invalidate_personal_projects_count
+
+      create_readme if @initialize_with_readme
     end
 
     # Refresh the current user's authorizations inline (so they can access the
@@ -116,6 +119,17 @@ module Projects
       end
     end
 
+    def create_readme
+      commit_attrs = {
+        branch_name: 'master',
+        commit_message: 'Initial commit',
+        file_path: 'README.md',
+        file_content: "# #{@project.name}\n\n#{@project.description}"
+      }
+
+      Files::CreateService.new(@project, current_user, commit_attrs).execute
+    end
+
     def skip_wiki?
       !@project.feature_available?(:wiki, current_user) || @skip_wiki
     end

app/views/projects/_new_project_fields.html.haml

@@ -40,5 +40,15 @@
   = link_to icon('question-circle'), help_page_path("public_access/public_access"), aria: { label: 'Documentation for Visibility Level' }, target: '_blank', rel: 'noopener noreferrer'
 = render 'shared/visibility_level', f: f, visibility_level: visibility_level.to_i, can_change_visibility_level: true, form_model: @project, with_label: false
 
+.form-group.row.initialize-with-readme-setting
+  %div{ :class => "col-sm-12" }
+    .form-check
+      = check_box_tag 'project[initialize_with_readme]', '1', false, class: 'form-check-input'
+      = label_tag 'project[initialize_with_readme]', class: 'form-check-label' do
+        .option-title
+          %strong Initialize repository with a README
+        .option-description
+          Allows you to immediately clone this project’s repository. Skip this if you plan to push up an existing repository.
+
 = f.submit 'Create project', class: "btn btn-create project-submit", tabindex: 4
 = link_to 'Cancel', dashboard_projects_path, class: 'btn btn-cancel'

changelogs/unreleased/19468-add_readme_when_creating_project.yml

+---
+title: Add option to add README when creating a project
+merge_request: 20335
+author:
+type: added

spec/features/projects/new_project_spec.rb

@@ -48,6 +48,15 @@ feature 'New project' do
     end
   end
 
+  context 'Readme selector' do
+    it 'shows the initialize with Readme checkbox' do
+      visit new_project_path
+
+      expect(page).to have_css('input#project_initialize_with_readme')
+      expect(page).to have_content('Initialize repository with a README')
+    end
+  end
+
   context 'Namespace selector' do
     context 'with user namespace' do
       before do

spec/services/projects/create_service_spec.rb

@@ -236,6 +236,18 @@ describe Projects::CreateService, '#execute' do
     end
   end
 
+  context 'when readme initialization is requested' do
+    it 'creates README.md' do
+      opts[:initialize_with_readme] = '1'
+
+      project = create_project(user, opts)
+
+      expect(project.repository.commit_count).to be(1)
+      expect(project.repository.readme.name).to eql('README.md')
+      expect(project.repository.readme.data).to include('# GitLab')
+    end
+  end
+
   context 'when there is an active service template' do
     before do
       create(:service, project: nil, template: true, active: true)