I'd expect you'd still create an empty repo (same as in the web UI) and then push the branches you want to push. You don't configure a branch name in the web ui

I'd expect you'd still create an empty repo (same as in the web UI) and then push the branches you want to push. You don't configure a branch name in the web ui as well. But that's why I'm asking where OP found that and not just saying they're wrong. €: There's also https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/repos#update-a-repository https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/repos#update-a-rep... where you can set the default_branch?