github

name	github
description	Provides guidance on GitHub-specific features, pull requests viewing modes, and collaborative practices. You MUST load this skill when working with GitHub-specific features or PR view modes.
license	MIT

GitHub Skill

Guidance on interacting with GitHub features, specifically around Pull Requests and diff viewing.

WHEN TO USE

• When working with GitHub Pull Requests, comparing branches, or needing to view diffs/patches.
• When needing to extract plain text diffs from GitHub PRs.

WHEN NOT TO USE

• For scripting bulk issue creation or complex repository management (use the gh CLI or gh-api skills instead).
• When resolving Git merge conflicts directly in the local repository (use git or git-expert).
• If you need deep code-level semantic analysis that a raw .patch or .diff format doesn't provide.

Common Pitfalls

• Ignoring Context: Looking only at the few lines of a .diff file and missing the broader architectural implications of a Pull Request.
• Scraping HTML: Attempting to curl and scrape the standard GitHub web UI instead of using the .diff/.patch extensions or the GitHub API.
• Misinterpreting Line Numbers: Taking a user's #L123 link out of context, failing to realize the code has shifted significantly since the permalink was generated.

Pull Request Plain Text View Modes

GitHub allows viewing pull requests and commits in plain text formats by simply appending an extension to the URL. This is highly useful for extracting patches or diffs for local tooling, scripting, or AI agents.

There are two modes for viewing Pull Requests in plain text:

• .diff mode: Append .diff to the end of a PR or commit URL to view the standard git diff.

  • Example: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/pull/<id>.diff

• .patch mode: Append .patch to the end of a PR or commit URL to view it as a git patch, which includes commit metadata (author, date, commit message) formatted for git am.

  • Example: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/pull/<id>.patch

Use these formats when user sends a GitHub PR URL and you need to retrieve the diff or patch content for processing.

Repository Archive

To download a repository archive, Codeload can be used instead of the API, e.g.:

• https://codeload.github.com/<owner>/<repo>/tar.gz/<ref>

GitHub File Links

• Line Numbers (#L<number>): When a user provides a link to a file on GitHub that includes a line number reference (e.g., #L123 or #L10-L20), always check the specified line(s) to determine whether it is relevant to the current context or task.

References

• GitHub Docs: About comparing branches in pull requests

Related Skills

• gh-pr: You MUST load this skill when working with the gh pr command.
• github-topics: You MUST load this skill when searching for relevant tools, libraries, or curated resources.