try-create.R

 repo_create <- try(gh::gh("POST /user/repos",
                                      name = repo_nm,
                                      description = paste("Website for workshop", repo_nm)),
                               silent = TRUE)
            if (inherits(repo_create, "try-error")) {
                stop("Can't create repository. Does it already exist?")
            } else if (inherits(repo_create, "gh_response")) {
                if (identical(attr(repo_create, "response")$status,
                              "201 Created"))
                    message("repo created")
            } else stop("something went wrong in repository creation.")

            ## 2. import repository
            owner_id <- repo_create$owner$login
            res <- gh::gh("PUT /repos/:owner/:repo/import",
                          owner = owner_id,  repo = repo_nm,
                          vcs_url = "https://github.com/swcarpentry/workshop-template",
                          vcs = "git",
                          .send_headers = c("Accept" = "application/vnd.github.barred-rock-preview"))

zzz-meta.json

{
  "languages": [
    "R" 
  ],
  "tags": [
    "try",
    "error"
  ],
  "references": [
    "https://github.com/fmichonneau/shiny-workshop/blob/master/server.R#L77"
  ]
}