diff --git a/.github/actions/copy-workflow-go/action.yml b/.github/actions/copy-workflow-go/action.yml
index cb27a595..9573f98e 100644
--- a/.github/actions/copy-workflow-go/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/copy-workflow-go/action.yml
@@ -8,18 +8,18 @@ runs:
       with:
         # This should be the same Go version we use in the go-check workflow.
         # go mod tidy, go vet, staticcheck and gofmt might behave differently depending on the version.
-        go-version: "1.17.x"
+        go-version: "1.18.x"
     - name: bump go.mod go version if needed
       uses: protocol/multiple-go-modules@v1.2
       with:
         working-directory: ${{ env.TARGET_REPO_DIR }}
         run: |
           # We want our modules to support two Go versions at a time.
-          # As of August 2021, Go 1.17 is the latest stable.
+          # As of March 2022, Go 1.18 is the latest stable.
           # go.mod's Go version declares the language version being used.
           # As such, it has to be the minimum of all Go versions supported.
           # Bump this every six months, as new Go versions come out.
-          TARGET_VERSION=1.16
+          TARGET_VERSION=1.17
 
           # Note that the "<" comparison doesn't understand semver,
           # but it should be good enough for the foreseeable future.
diff --git a/.github/actions/copy-workflow-versioning/action.yml b/.github/actions/copy-workflow-versioning/action.yml
index 6acf1714..efb64ee5 100644
--- a/.github/actions/copy-workflow-versioning/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/copy-workflow-versioning/action.yml
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ runs:
       run: |
         git fetch origin --unshallow # we need the entire commit history
         version=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 || true) # highest released version on current branch
-        if [[ -n "$version" ]]; then # only deply version.json if there's at least one release
-          printf '{"version": "%s"}' "$version" | jq . > version.json
-          git add version.json
-          git commit -m "add version.json file"
-        fi
+        printf '{"version": "%s"}' "$version" | jq . > version.json
+        git add version.json
+        git commit -m "add version.json file"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/automerge.yml b/.github/workflows/automerge.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1a5cd12d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/automerge.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Automatically merge pull requests opened by web3-bot, as soon as (and only if) all tests pass.
+# This reduces the friction associated with updating with our workflows.
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      job:
+        required: true
+        type: string
+name: Automerge
+
+jobs:
+  automerge-check:
+    if: github.event.pull_request.user.login == 'web3-bot'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      status: ${{ steps.should-automerge.outputs.status }}
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      with:
+        fetch-depth: 0
+    - name: Check if we should automerge
+      id: should-automerge
+      run: |
+        for commit in $(git rev-list --first-parent origin/${{ github.event.pull_request.base.ref }}..${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}); do
+          committer=$(git show --format=$'%ce' -s $commit)
+          echo "Committer: $committer"
+          if [[ "$committer" != "web3-bot@users.noreply.github.com" ]]; then
+            echo "Commit $commit wasn't committed by web3-bot, but by $committer."
+            echo "::set-output name=status::false"
+            exit
+          fi
+        done
+        echo "::set-output name=status::true"
+  automerge:
+    needs: automerge-check
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # The check for the user is redundant here, as this job depends on the automerge-check job,
+    # but it prevents this job from spinning up, just to be skipped shortly after.
+    if: github.event.pull_request.user.login == 'web3-bot' && needs.automerge-check.outputs.status == 'true'
+    steps:
+    - name: Wait on tests
+      uses: lewagon/wait-on-check-action@752bfae19aef55dab12a00bc36d48acc46b77e9d # v1.1.1
+      with:
+        ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
+        repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        wait-interval: 10
+        running-workflow-name: '${{ inputs.job }} / ${{ github.job }}' # the name of the check for this job
+    - name: Merge PR
+      uses: pascalgn/automerge-action@741c311a47881be9625932b0a0de1b0937aab1ae # v0.13.1
+      env:
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
+        MERGE_LABELS: ""
+        MERGE_METHOD: "squash"
+        MERGE_DELETE_BRANCH: true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-config.yml b/.github/workflows/check-config.yml
index 5b3af314..1ee8aab6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check-config.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-config.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-on: 
+on:
   pull_request:
     paths:
       - 'configs/*.json'
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ name: Check Config
 jobs:
   check-config:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    outputs:
-      targets: ${{ steps.set-matrix.outputs.targets }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - name: check if config files are sorted alphabetically
diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-yaml.yml b/.github/workflows/check-yaml.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5442b6ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-yaml.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - '**/action.yml'
+      - '**/action.yaml'
+      - '**/.github/workflows/*.yml'
+      - '**/.github/workflows/*.yaml'
+
+name: Check YAML
+
+jobs:
+  check-yaml:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: nwisbeta/validate-yaml-schema@c3734e647d2a3beb98b9132330067e900fdbd1a2 # v2.0.0
+        with:
+          yamlSchemasJson: |
+            {
+              "https://json.schemastore.org/github-action.json": ["**/action.yml", "**/action.yaml"],
+              "https://json.schemastore.org/github-workflow.json": ["**/.github/workflows/*.yml", "**/.github/workflows/*.yaml"]
+            }
diff --git a/.github/workflows/copy-workflow.yml b/.github/workflows/copy-workflow.yml
index 21940fc2..235beed0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/copy-workflow.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/copy-workflow.yml
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
       with:
         path: ${{ env.TEMPLATE_REPO_DIR }}
+    - name: determine GitHub default branch
+      working-directory: ${{ env.TARGET_REPO_DIR }}
+      run: |
+        default_branch=$(git remote show origin | awk '/HEAD branch/ {print $NF}')
+        echo "DEFAULT_BRANCH=$default_branch" >> $GITHUB_ENV
     - name: git config
       working-directory: ${{ env.TARGET_REPO_DIR }}
       run: |
@@ -100,6 +105,8 @@ jobs:
           # add DO NOT EDIT header
           tmp=$(mktemp)
           cat $TEMPLATE_REPO_DIR/$TEMPLATE_DIR/header.yml $TEMPLATE_REPO_DIR/$TEMPLATE_DIR/$f > $tmp
+          # replace $default-branch with this repo's GitHub default branch
+          sed -i "s:\$default-branch:${{ env.DEFAULT_BRANCH }}:g" $tmp
           # create commit, if necessary
           commit_msg=""
           if [[ ! -f "$TARGET_REPO_DIR/$f" ]]; then
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dispatch.yml b/.github/workflows/dispatch.yml
index 4e7a541d..9e479306 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dispatch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dispatch.yml
@@ -136,7 +136,8 @@ jobs:
               echo "Failed to create a PR for '$target'"
               failed+=("$target(create)")
             fi
-            sleep 3
+            # 3 seconds seemed not to be enough, trying 10
+            sleep 10
           done
           if ((${#failed[@]})); then
             echo "::error ::Failed to sync PRs in: ${failed[@]}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-check.yml b/.github/workflows/release-check.yml
index 55484c99..41249482 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-check.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ jobs:
   releaser:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     env:
-      INITIAL_RUN: "false"
+      TAG_EXISTS: "true"
       VERSION: "" # the version number read from version.json
       COMPARETO: "" # the version number to compare this version to
       GORELEASE: ""
@@ -20,31 +20,29 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2
         with:
-          go-version: "1.17.x"
+          go-version: "1.18.x"
       - name: Determine version
+        if: hashFiles('version.json')
         run: echo "VERSION=$(jq -r .version version.json)" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-      - name: Check if this is the initial deployment
-        # This is the initial run (deploying the version.json to this repo) if
-        # 1. version.json didn't exist before, AND
-        # 2. there doesn't exist a git tag for the version (as read from version.json)
-        # In that case, we don't need to run the rest of the workflow.
+      - name: Check if the tag already exists
+        # Check if a git tag for the version (as read from version.json) exists
+        # If that is the case, we don't need to run the rest of the workflow.
+        if: env.VERSION != ''
         run: |
-          git fetch origin ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
           git fetch origin --tags
-          read -ra arr <<< $(git diff-index ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }} -- version.json)
           status=0
           git rev-list $VERSION &> /dev/null || status=$?
-          if [[ "${arr[4]}" == "A" && $status == 0 ]]; then
-            echo "INITIAL_RUN=true" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          if [[ $status != 0 ]]; then
+            echo "TAG_EXISTS=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi
       - name: Install semver (node command line tool)
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false'
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false'
         run: npm install -g "https://github.com/npm/node-semver#e79ac3a450e8bb504e78b8159e3efc7089569" # v7.3.5
       - name: Check version
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false'
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false'
         run: semver ${{ env.VERSION }} # fails if the version is not a valid semver version (e.g. v0.1 would fail)
       - name: Determine version number to compare to
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false'
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false'
         # We need to determine the version number we want to compare to,
         # taking into account that this might be a (patch) release on a release branch.
         # Example:
@@ -62,7 +60,7 @@ jobs:
           fi
           echo "COMPARETO=$v" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - name: Post output
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false' && env.COMPARETO == ''
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false' && env.COMPARETO == ''
         uses: marocchino/sticky-pull-request-comment@82e7a0d3c51217201b3fedc4ddde6632e969a477 # v2.1.1
         with:
           header: release-check
@@ -72,7 +70,7 @@ jobs:
 
             This is the first release of this module.
       - name: run git diff on go.mod file(s)
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
         run: |
           # First get the diff for the go.mod file in the root directory...
           output=$(git diff ${{ env.COMPARETO }}..HEAD -- './go.mod')
@@ -84,14 +82,14 @@ jobs:
           fi
           printf "GOMODDIFF<<EOF\n%s\nEOF" "$output" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - name: Run gorelease
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
         # see https://github.com/golang/exp/commits/master/cmd/gorelease
         run: |
           go install golang.org/x/exp/cmd/gorelease@b4e88ed8e8aab63a9aa9a52276782ebbc547adef
           output=$((gorelease -base ${{ env.COMPARETO }}) 2>&1 || true)
           printf "GORELEASE<<EOF\n%s\nEOF" "$output" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - name: Check Compatibility
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
         run: |
           go install github.com/smola/gocompat/cmd/gocompat@8498b97a44792a3a6063c47014726baa63e2e669 # v0.3.0
           output=$(gocompat compare --go1compat --git-refs="${{ env.COMPARETO }}..HEAD" ./... || true)
@@ -129,10 +127,10 @@ jobs:
           ```
           ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH_NOTE }}
           EOF' >> $GITHUB_ENV
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != ''
       - name: Post message on PR
         uses: marocchino/sticky-pull-request-comment@82e7a0d3c51217201b3fedc4ddde6632e969a477 # v2.1.1
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != '' && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != '' && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
         with:
           header: release-check
           recreate: true
@@ -143,4 +141,4 @@ jobs:
           message="${message//$'\n'/'%0A'}"
           message="${message//$'\r'/'%0D'}"
           echo "::notice ::$message"
-        if: env.INITIAL_RUN == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != '' && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name != github.repository
+        if: env.TAG_EXISTS == 'false' && env.COMPARETO != '' && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name != github.repository
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 93481c1d..37b82d46 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Some repositories may require some pre-setup steps to be run before tests (or co
 runs:
   using: "composite"
   steps:
-    - name: Step 1 
+    - name: Step 1
       shell: bash
       run: echo "do some initial setup"
     - name: Step 2
@@ -60,5 +60,11 @@ If you want your project to participle, please send a PR which adds your reposit
 
 ## Development
 
+### Branches
+
 The `master` branch contains currently deployed workflows.
 When we make minor changes to these workflows, we don't always want these changes to get deployed to all hundreds of repositories, as this creates a lot of unnecessary noise. Minor changes to the workflows are therefore merged into the [`next`](https://github.com/protocol/.github/tree/next) branch. When the time has come, we create a PR from the `next` branch to `master` to trigger a deployment to all repositores.
+
+### IDE
+
+If you're using [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) for development, you might want to install the [YAML](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=redhat.vscode-yaml) extension. It is configured to perform GitHub workflow/action linting out-of-the-box. If you're using a different IDE, you can check if a [client](https://github.com/redhat-developer/yaml-language-server#clients) for it exists.
diff --git a/templates/.github/workflows/automerge.yml b/templates/.github/workflows/automerge.yml
index 13da9c15..d57c2a02 100644
--- a/templates/.github/workflows/automerge.yml
+++ b/templates/.github/workflows/automerge.yml
@@ -1,50 +1,8 @@
-# Automatically merge pull requests opened by web3-bot, as soon as (and only if) all tests pass.
-# This reduces the friction associated with updating with our workflows.
-
-on: [ pull_request ]
 name: Automerge
+on: [ pull_request ]
 
 jobs:
-  automerge-check:
-    if: github.event.pull_request.user.login == 'web3-bot'
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    outputs:
-      status: ${{ steps.should-automerge.outputs.status }}
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-      with:
-        fetch-depth: 0
-    - name: Check if we should automerge
-      id: should-automerge
-      run: |
-        for commit in $(git rev-list --first-parent origin/${{ github.event.pull_request.base.ref }}..${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}); do
-          committer=$(git show --format=$'%ce' -s $commit)
-          echo "Committer: $committer"
-          if [[ "$committer" != "web3-bot@users.noreply.github.com" ]]; then
-            echo "Commit $commit wasn't committed by web3-bot, but by $committer."
-            echo "::set-output name=status::false"
-            exit
-          fi
-        done
-        echo "::set-output name=status::true"
   automerge:
-    needs: automerge-check
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # The check for the user is redundant here, as this job depends on the automerge-check job,
-    # but it prevents this job from spinning up, just to be skipped shortly after.
-    if: github.event.pull_request.user.login == 'web3-bot' && needs.automerge-check.outputs.status == 'true'
-    steps:
-    - name: Wait on tests
-      uses: lewagon/wait-on-check-action@bafe56a6863672c681c3cf671f5e10b20abf2eaa # v0.2
-      with:
-        ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
-        repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        wait-interval: 10
-        running-workflow-name: 'automerge' # the name of this job
-    - name: Merge PR
-      uses: pascalgn/automerge-action@741c311a47881be9625932b0a0de1b0937aab1ae # v0.13.1
-      env:
-        GITHUB_TOKEN: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
-        MERGE_LABELS: ""
-        MERGE_METHOD: "squash"
-        MERGE_DELETE_BRANCH: true
+    uses: protocol/.github/.github/workflows/automerge.yml@master
+    with:
+      job: 'automerge'
diff --git a/templates/.github/workflows/go-check.yml b/templates/.github/workflows/go-check.yml
index 494d4814..3b7cc2c8 100644
--- a/templates/.github/workflows/go-check.yml
+++ b/templates/.github/workflows/go-check.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ jobs:
           submodules: recursive
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v2
         with:
-          go-version: "1.17.x"
+          go-version: "1.18.x"
       - name: Run repo-specific setup
         uses: ./.github/actions/go-check-setup
         if: hashFiles('./.github/actions/go-check-setup') != ''
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
             echo "RUNGOGENERATE=true" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi
       - name: Install staticcheck
-        run: go install honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@c8caa92bad8c27ae734c6725b8a04932d54a147b # 2021.1.2 (v0.2.2)
+        run: go install honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@d7e217c1ff411395475b2971c0824e1e7cc1af98 # 2022.1 (v0.3.0)
       - name: Check that go.mod is tidy
         uses: protocol/multiple-go-modules@v1.2
         with:
@@ -68,4 +68,3 @@ jobs:
               git status --short
               exit 1
             fi
-
diff --git a/templates/.github/workflows/go-test.yml b/templates/.github/workflows/go-test.yml
index 01294752..b321ae83 100644
--- a/templates/.github/workflows/go-test.yml
+++ b/templates/.github/workflows/go-test.yml
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         os: [ "ubuntu", "windows", "macos" ]
-        go: [ "1.16.x", "1.17.x" ]
+        go: [ "1.17.x", "1.18.x" ]
     env:
       COVERAGES: ""
-    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}-latest
-    name: ${{ matrix.os}} (go ${{ matrix.go }})
+    runs-on: ${{ format('{0}-latest', matrix.os) }}
+    name: ${{ matrix.os }} (go ${{ matrix.go }})
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
@@ -47,7 +47,9 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GOARCH: 386
         with:
-          run: go test -v ./...
+          run: |
+            export "PATH=${{ env.PATH_386 }}:$PATH"
+            go test -v ./...
       - name: Run tests with race detector
         if: ${{ matrix.os == 'ubuntu' }} # speed things up. Windows and OSX VMs are slow
         uses: protocol/multiple-go-modules@v1.2