diff --git a/heptapod/required.hgrc b/heptapod/required.hgrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0c0aac0334b955118c693b55cd2a58bfd42aa220_aGVwdGFwb2QvcmVxdWlyZWQuaGdyYw==
--- /dev/null
+++ b/heptapod/required.hgrc
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+[extensions]
+heptapod=
+hggit=
+evolve=
+topic=
+loggingmod =
+
+[logging]
+# see https://dev.heptapod.net/heptapod/hgext-loggingmod/blob/branch/default/README.md
+# it is essential for proper GitLab operation that nothing ends up on
+# stderr during merges, otherwise it counts as an error.
+file = /tmp/mercurial.log
+
+[hooks]
+# the heptapod_hooks package gets installed by
+# Heptapod's version of the hg-git Python distribution
+pretxnclose.heptapod_sync=python:heptapod.hooks.git_sync.mirror
+pretxnopen.heptapod_check_write=python:heptapod.hooks.perm.check_write
+pretxnclose.heptapod_check_publish=python:heptapod.hooks.check_publish.check_publish
+
+# ordering: higher has more priority. We don't want to rely
+# on the order of registration because of possible overrides
+# (default value, which most user hooks would have is 0)
+
+# permissions or sanity checks go first
+priority.pretxnclose.heptapod_check_publish = 100
+# internal git sync should be last, and after any
+# user registered ones by default
+priority.pretxnclose.heptapod_sync = -100
+
+[experimental]
+hg-git.export-named-branches = yes
+single-head-per-branch = yes
+obshashrange = yes
+topic.publish-bare-branch = yes
+
+[web]
+push_ssl = no
+allow_push = heptapod-write, heptapod-publish
+allow_publish = heptapod-publish
+
+[phases]
+publish = false
+
+[git]
+blockdotgit = false
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 173b438ca8e25ac86a2ce1e3ea467074260b39d9_c2V0dXAucHk=..0c0aac0334b955118c693b55cd2a58bfd42aa220_c2V0dXAucHk= 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
     long_description=open('README.md').read(),
     keywords='hg mercurial heptapod gitlab',
     license='GPLv2+',
+    package_data=dict(heptapod=['*.hgrc']),
     packages=['heptapod', 'hgext3rd'],
     install_requires=install_req,
 )