Create, manage, triage, and close GitHub issues. Search existing issues, add labels, assign people, and link to PRs. Works with gh CLI or falls back to git + GitHub REST API via curl.
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Create, manage, triage, and close GitHub issues. Search existing issues, add labels, assign people, and link to PRs. Works with gh CLI or falls back to git + GitHub REST API via curl.
gh issue list
gh issue list --state open --label "bug"
gh issue list --assignee @me
gh issue list --search "authentication error" --state all
gh issue view 42
With curl:
# List open issues
curl -s \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
"https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?state=open&per_page=20" \
| python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin):
if 'pull_request' not in i: # GitHub API returns PRs in /issues too
labels = ', '.join(l['name'] for l in i['labels'])
print(f\"#{i['number']:5} {i['state']:6} {labels:30} {i['title']}\")"# Filter by label
curl -s \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
"https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?state=open&labels=bug&per_page=20" \
| python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin):
if 'pull_request' not in i:
print(f\"#{i['number']} {i['title']}\")"# View a specific issue
curl -s \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42 \
| python3 -c "
import sys, json
i = json.load(sys.stdin)
labels = ', '.join(l['name'] for l in i['labels'])
assignees = ', '.join(a['login'] for a in i['assignees'])
print(f\"#{i['number']}: {i['title']}\")
print(f\"State: {i['state']} Labels: {labels} Assignees: {assignees}\")
print(f\"Author: {i['user']['login']} Created: {i['created_at']}\")
print(f\"\n{i['body']}\")"# Search issues
curl -s \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
"https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=authentication+error+repo:$OWNER/$REPO" \
| python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin)['items']:
print(f\"#{i['number']} {i['state']:6} {i['title']}\")"
2. Creating Issues
With gh:
gh issue create \
--title "Login redirect ignores ?next= parameter" \
--body "## Description
After logging in, users always land on /dashboard.
## Steps to Reproduce
1. Navigate to /settings while logged out
2. Get redirected to /login?next=/settings
3. Log in
4. Actual: redirected to /dashboard (should go to /settings)
## Expected Behavior
Respect the ?next= query parameter." \
--label "bug,backend" \
--assignee "username"
With curl:
curl -s -X POST \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues \
-d '{
"title": "Login redirect ignores ?next= parameter",
"body": "## Description\nAfter logging in, users always land on /dashboard.\n\n## Steps to Reproduce\n1. Navigate to /settings while logged out\n2. Get redirected to /login?next=/settings\n3. Log in\n4. Actual: redirected to /dashboard\n\n## Expected Behavior\nRespect the ?next= query parameter.",
"labels": ["bug", "backend"],
"assignees": ["username"]
}'
## Feature Description
<What you want>
## Motivation
<Why this would be useful>
## Proposed Solution
<How it could work>
## Alternatives Considered
<Other approaches>
gh issue comment 42 --body "Investigated — root cause is in auth middleware. Working on a fix."
With curl:
curl -s -X POST \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42/comments \
-d '{"body": "Investigated — root cause is in auth middleware. Working on a fix."}'
Closing and Reopening
With gh:
gh issue close 42
gh issue close 42 --reason "not planned"
gh issue reopen 42
Issues are automatically closed when a PR merges with the right keywords in the body:
Closes #42
Fixes #42
Resolves #42
To create a branch from an issue:
With gh:
gh issue develop 42 --checkout
With git (manual equivalent):
git checkout main && git pull origin main
git checkout -b fix/issue-42-login-redirect
4. Issue Triage Workflow
When asked to triage issues:
List untriaged issues:
# With gh
gh issue list --label "needs-triage" --state open
# With curl
curl -s \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
"https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?labels=needs-triage&state=open" \
| python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin):
if 'pull_request' not in i:
print(f\"#{i['number']} {i['title']}\")"
Read and categorize each issue (view details, understand the bug/feature)
Apply labels and priority (see Managing Issues above)
Assign if the owner is clear
Comment with triage notes if needed
5. Bulk Operations
For batch operations, combine API calls with shell scripting:
With gh:
# Close all issues with a specific label
gh issue list --label "wontfix" --json number --jq '.[].number' | \
xargs -I {} gh issue close {} --reason "not planned"
With curl:
# List issue numbers with a label, then close each
curl -s \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
"https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?labels=wontfix&state=open" \
| python3 -c "import sys,json; [print(i['number']) for i in json.load(sys.stdin)]" \
| whileread num; do
curl -s -X PATCH \
-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/$num \
-d '{"state": "closed", "state_reason": "not_planned"}'echo"Closed #$num"done
