diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug.yaml b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug.yml
similarity index 89%
rename from .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug.yaml
rename to .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug.yml
index fe1fdde..c3cff4c 100644
--- a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug.yaml
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
+# The key below is `description`, NOT `about`.
+#
+# GitHub requires `description` on a YAML issue form and rejects the
+# template without it; Gitea wants `about` but explicitly accepts
+# `description` as a compatible alias. `description` is therefore the
+# only spelling that works on both the canonical repo and the mirror.
+# The markdown templates beside this one still use `about`, which is
+# correct for their format on both forges.
 name: Bug report
-about: Something in the config is broken or behaves unexpectedly
+description: Something in the config is broken or behaves unexpectedly
 labels:
   - Kind/Bug
 body:
diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yaml b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml
similarity index 55%
rename from .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yaml
rename to .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml
index de6c3ee..c041d6e 100644
--- a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yaml
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,18 @@
-# Gitea reads this alongside the templates in this directory.
+# Read by both Gitea (the canonical repo) and GitHub (the mirror).
+#
+# The .yml extension is required: Gitea accepts config.yaml or config.yml,
+# but GitHub only recognizes config.yml and silently ignores config.yaml.
+# Don't "tidy" this back to .yaml — the chooser on the mirror stops working.
+#
 # Blank issues stay enabled deliberately: the three templates cover bugs,
 # features, and docs, and anything else (a chore, a refactor, a question)
 # is better served by an empty box than by a template that doesn't fit.
 blank_issues_enabled: true
 
 contact_links:
+  - name: Canonical repository and issue tracker
+    url: https://git.rootiest.dev/rootiest/fish-config/issues
+    about: fish-config is developed on Gitea. If you came from the GitHub mirror, please file here instead — the mirror is read-only and issues opened there are easy to miss.
   - name: Contributing guide
     url: https://git.rootiest.dev/rootiest/fish-config/src/branch/main/CONTRIBUTING.md
     about: Branch naming, commit conventions, coding standards, and the label taxonomy.
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 8382bf7..7dd34fa 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@ refuses to submit without them. The other two are markdown templates in the
 same comment-guided style as `.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md`, since what
 they ask for is open-ended prose that structure would only get in the way of.
 
+GitHub reads these same files on the mirror, and its schema differs from
+Gitea's in two places, so both are pinned to the spelling that works on both
+and each file says so in a comment: the chooser config must be `config.yml`
+(GitHub ignores `config.yaml`), and `bug.yml` declares `description:` rather
+than `about:` (GitHub requires it; Gitea accepts it as an alias). The two
+markdown templates keep `about:`, which is correct for their format on both.
+
 ### Issue titles
 
 **Issue titles are plain descriptions of the problem, not Conventional
@@ -283,6 +290,28 @@ Use `good first issue` for work that is genuinely self-contained — a clear
 acceptance criterion, one or two files, no need to understand the
 opinionated-component system first.
 
+### The GitHub mirror
+
+The repo is mirrored to
+[github.com/rootiest/fish-config](https://github.com/rootiest/fish-config),
+and **the mirror carries the same labels, by the same names**. That isn't
+cosmetic: GitHub reads the same `.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/` files, and a
+`labels:` entry naming a label that doesn't exist on that side is silently
+dropped rather than reported. Mirroring copies files, not repository
+settings, so **a label added here must be created on the mirror too** — no
+automation does it for you.
+
+One behavioral difference to keep in mind: **GitHub has no exclusive
+labels.** Gitea enforces one-at-a-time on `Priority/`, `Reviewed/`, and
+`Status/` by swapping the old label out; on the mirror those are ordinary
+labels and nothing stops two of a group coexisting, so there the one-of rule
+holds by convention alone.
+
+Issues and pull requests belong on the canonical Gitea repo — the template
+chooser links there first, on both sides. The mirror's tracker stays open so
+that a report which lands there anyway isn't lost, not because it's a second
+supported front door.
+
 ## Commit Conventions
 
 Commit subjects follow [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/):