github

name	github
category	dev
description	GitHub CLI (gh) for repository management, issues, pull requests, releases, workflows, search, gists, and API access. Use when the user asks about any GitHub operation — creating repos, forking, cloning, PR workflows, issue triage, CI/CD runs, code search, release management, or direct API calls. Keywords: github, gh, pull request, issue, repository, release, workflow, actions, search, gist, fork, clone, label, milestone, project.
license	MIT
compatibility	Requires gh (GitHub CLI) v2.0+. Install via brew install gh (macOS), winget install GitHub.cli (Windows), or apt install gh (Linux).
metadata	{"author":"zeph","version":"1.0"}

GitHub CLI Operations

IMPORTANT: Always use gh CLI for ALL GitHub interactions. Never use curl with GitHub API directly — gh api handles authentication, pagination, and rate limiting automatically.

Quick Reference

Category	Command	Details
Auth	gh auth status	Check login state
Auth	gh auth login	Interactive login
Repos	gh repo view	View current repo
Repos	gh repo create NAME	Create new repo
Repos	gh repo clone OWNER/REPO	Clone a repo
Repos	gh repo fork OWNER/REPO	Fork a repo
Issues	gh issue list --limit 10	references/issues.md
Issues	gh issue create --title T --body B	Create issue
PRs	gh pr list --limit 10	references/pull-requests.md
PRs	gh pr create --title T --body B	Create PR
PRs	gh pr merge N	Merge PR
Search	gh search repos "QUERY"	references/search.md
Releases	gh release list --limit 5	references/releases.md
Workflows	gh run list --limit 10	references/workflows.md
API	gh api repos/OWNER/REPO	references/api.md
Gists	gh gist list --limit 10	references/gists.md

Authentication

# Interactive login (browser or token)
gh auth login

# Login with token (non-interactive, CI)
echo "$TOKEN" | gh auth login --with-token

# Check auth status
gh auth status

# Switch between accounts
gh auth switch

# Refresh token scopes
gh auth refresh --scopes read:project

# Logout
gh auth logout

Environment variable auth (overrides stored credentials):

Variable	Purpose
GH_TOKEN / GITHUB_TOKEN	Auth token for github.com
GH_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN	Auth token for GitHub Enterprise

Repository Workflows

# Create a new repo (interactive)
gh repo create my-project --public --clone

# Create from template
gh repo create my-project --template OWNER/TEMPLATE --clone --public

# Fork and clone
gh repo fork OWNER/REPO --clone

# Clone
gh repo clone OWNER/REPO

# View repo details
gh repo view OWNER/REPO
gh repo view OWNER/REPO --json name,description,stargazerCount

# Archive / delete
gh repo archive OWNER/REPO
gh repo delete OWNER/REPO --yes

# Set default repo (for commands outside a git directory)
gh repo set-default OWNER/REPO

# Rename
gh repo rename NEW-NAME

Pull Request Workflow

# Create PR (current branch -> default branch)
gh pr create --title "Title" --body "Description"

# Create PR with specific base
gh pr create --base develop --title "Title" --body "Body"

# Create draft PR
gh pr create --draft --title "WIP: Feature" --body "Body"

# List open PRs
gh pr list --limit 20

# View PR details
gh pr view 123
gh pr view 123 --json state,reviews,checks

# Check PR status (checks, reviews)
gh pr checks 123

# Review a PR
gh pr review 123 --approve
gh pr review 123 --request-changes --body "Fix X"
gh pr review 123 --comment --body "Looks good"

# Merge PR
gh pr merge 123 --squash --delete-branch
gh pr merge 123 --rebase
gh pr merge 123 --merge

# Close without merging
gh pr close 123

# View PR diff
gh pr diff 123

# Checkout a PR locally
gh pr checkout 123

# Edit PR metadata
gh pr edit 123 --add-label "bug" --add-reviewer "user"
gh pr edit 123 --milestone "v1.0"

# View PR comments
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/pulls/123/comments

Issue Triage

# List open issues
gh issue list --limit 20
gh issue list --label "bug" --assignee "@me"
gh issue list --state closed --limit 10

# Create issue
gh issue create --title "Bug: X" --body "Steps to reproduce..."
gh issue create --label "bug,critical" --assignee "@me"

# View issue
gh issue view 456
gh issue view 456 --json title,body,labels,comments

# Close / reopen
gh issue close 456 --reason "completed"
gh issue reopen 456

# Edit issue
gh issue edit 456 --add-label "priority:high" --milestone "v2.0"

# Transfer issue to another repo
gh issue transfer 456 OWNER/OTHER-REPO

# Pin / unpin
gh issue pin 456
gh issue unpin 456

# Comment on issue
gh issue comment 456 --body "Working on this"

# List issue comments
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/456/comments

Search

Never use curl or browser for GitHub search. Use gh search subcommands:

# Search repositories
gh search repos "cli language:rust stars:>100" --limit 10 --sort stars

# Search code
gh search code "fn parse language:rust repo:OWNER/REPO" --limit 10
gh search code "filename:Cargo.toml org:ORG" --limit 10

# Search issues
gh search issues "repo:OWNER/REPO is:open label:bug" --limit 10

# Search pull requests
gh search prs "is:merged author:USER" --limit 10 --sort updated

# Search commits
gh search commits "fix memory repo:OWNER/REPO" --limit 10 --sort committer-date

Key qualifiers: repo:, org:, language:, filename:, path:, extension:, is:, label:, author:, stars:, created:, in:.

Full qualifier reference: references/search.md

Output Formatting

JSON output (--json)

Select specific fields to reduce output size:

gh pr list --json number,title,state
gh issue list --json number,title,labels,assignees
gh repo view --json name,description,stargazerCount
gh pr view 123 --json commits,files,reviews

JQ filtering (--jq)

Filter and transform JSON output:

# Get just PR titles
gh pr list --json title --jq '.[].title'

# Filter issues by label
gh issue list --json number,title,labels \
  --jq '.[] | select(.labels | any(.name == "bug"))'

# Count open PRs by author
gh pr list --json author --jq '[.[].author.login] | group_by(.) | map({(.[0]): length}) | add'

# Extract specific nested fields
gh pr view 123 --json reviews --jq '.reviews[].state'

Go templates (--template)

gh issue list --template '{{range .}}#{{.number}} {{.title}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}'
gh pr list --template '{{range .}}{{.number}}\t{{.state}}\t{{.title}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}'

API Access

Use gh api for any GitHub REST or GraphQL endpoint not covered by built-in commands:

# REST API (automatically authenticated)
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/contributors --paginate

# POST with JSON body
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/issues -f title="Bug" -f body="Description"

# GraphQL
gh api graphql -f query='{ viewer { login } }'

# With JQ filtering
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/releases --jq '.[0].tag_name'

# Paginate automatically
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/issues --paginate --jq '.[].title'

Full API reference: references/api.md

CI/CD and Workflows

# List workflow runs
gh run list --limit 10
gh run list --workflow build.yml --limit 5

# View run details
gh run view RUN_ID
gh run view RUN_ID --log

# Watch a run in progress
gh run watch RUN_ID

# Rerun a failed run
gh run rerun RUN_ID
gh run rerun RUN_ID --failed

# Trigger a workflow dispatch
gh workflow run build.yml --ref main

# List workflows
gh workflow list

# Manage repo secrets
gh secret set SECRET_NAME --body "value"
gh secret list

# Manage repo variables
gh variable set VAR_NAME --body "value"
gh variable list

# View action cache
gh cache list
gh cache delete KEY

Full workflows reference: references/workflows.md

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
GH_TOKEN	Auth token (overrides stored credentials)
GITHUB_TOKEN	Alternative to GH_TOKEN
GH_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN	Token for GitHub Enterprise
GH_HOST	Default GitHub hostname
GH_REPO	Default repo in [HOST/]OWNER/REPO format
GH_EDITOR	Editor for interactive commands
GH_BROWSER	Browser for gh browse
GH_PAGER	Pager for output (default: system pager)
GH_DEBUG	Set to 1 or api for debug output
GH_NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER	Set to 1 to disable update notifications
GH_CONFIG_DIR	Config directory (default: ~/.config/gh)
NO_COLOR	Disable color output

Configuration

# View current config
gh config list

# Set default editor
gh config set editor vim

# Set default git protocol
gh config set git_protocol ssh

# Set default browser
gh config set browser "firefox"

# Set prompt (disable interactive prompts)
gh config set prompt disabled

# Per-host config
gh config set git_protocol ssh --host github.example.com

Extensions

# Browse available extensions
gh ext browse

# Install an extension
gh ext install OWNER/gh-EXTENSION

# List installed extensions
gh ext list

# Upgrade extensions
gh ext upgrade --all
gh ext upgrade OWNER/gh-EXTENSION

# Remove an extension
gh ext remove OWNER/gh-EXTENSION

Token-Saving Patterns

• Always use --limit N or | head -N to cap output
• Use --json FIELD1,FIELD2 to select only needed fields
• Use --jq 'EXPRESSION' to filter JSON responses
• Combine --json and --jq to get minimal output in one call
• Use gh api --paginate instead of manual pagination loops
• Use --web to open in browser instead of fetching large content
• Prefer gh pr checks over gh run list when checking a specific PR