gh-cli-use

name	gh-cli-use
description	Safely use the GitHub CLI (gh) working with GitHub repos beyond standard git operations: creating, forking, or cloning new remote repos, triggering and monitoring GitHub Actions, or working with Issues and Pull Requests.

gh CLI Usage

Safety Rules

• Read before write. Use list, view, status, diff, checks before any write operation.
• Scope every command. Use -R OWNER/REPO unless clearly inside the target project directory.
• No destructive commands without explicit user instruction. Destructive/high-risk subcommands: delete, close, merge, revert, archive, unarchive, transfer, lock/unlock, release delete, cache delete, run delete.
• Protect secrets. Never log tokens or print gh auth token output.

For commands not covered below, consult the gh CLI reference map.

Common Start-up Errors

When: switching repos, or on permission errors, check for common issues:

• Confirm repo:
  • Explicit (preferred): gh repo view -R OWNER/REPO
  • Implicit (CWD matches known repo and project path): gh repo view
• Verify auth: gh auth status

Note the active account and canonical OWNER/REPO before proceeding.

GitHub Issues

When: asked to find, summarize, update, or work on an Issue.

1. List: gh issue list -R OWNER/REPO
2. Read: gh issue view <number>
3. Work on: gh issue develop <number> (creates branch + easy flow to PR when ready via gh pr create [--title <title>] [--body <description>] or gh pr create --fill-verbose to use the list of commit messages as description)

Creating a batch of issues from a task list or plan markdown file is a common workflow:

1. Read the file and extract tasks
2. gh issue create for each task
3. Ask user if you should start on the first issue
4. If yes, gh issue develop <number of first created issue>

If specifically asked, you can close issues, though usually this should be done by linking then to a PR that gets merged -- sometimes this is useful for cleaning up old issues though: gh issue close <number>

Pull Requests

When: asked to review a PR, diagnose CI failures on a PR, move a draft to ready for review, or prepare a merge.

Inspect (read-only)

• gh pr list <number>
• gh pr view <number>
• gh pr diff <number>
• gh pr checks <number>

Provide Feedback

• Lightweight: gh pr comment <number> --body "<notes>"
• Formal review (when requested): gh pr review <number> ...

Merge (high-risk)

Do not merge unless the user explicitly requests it and specifies the strategy. Typically, once reviews are approved and CI checks are passing, a merge with the preferred strategy will happen automatically, so manual merges should be rare and only done with clear user instructions.

• gh pr merge --squash|--rebase

Always preserve clear linear history, unless the user explicitly request a merge that will create a merge commit. Use --squash if the PR consists of many commits, if the PR is a couple of small, clear commits with good messages, a --rebase may be preferable. Most of the time though, --squash with a clear story is the safest choice.

GitHub Actions

When: running CI, fetching run results, or triggering builds.

• List workflows: gh workflow list
• View a workflow: gh workflow view <workflow>
• Trigger a run: gh workflow run <workflow>
• Watch a run: gh run watch <run-id>
• Rerun failed jobs: gh run rerun <run-id>

Other Needs

The gh CLI is very deep and well-designed, with great help text. If you need to do a less common operation, check the reference guide for the right command structure, and always follow the safety rules above. The reference guide may be out of date, so it's good to check the help text or, if necessary, the latest docs from the manual.