github-research

name	github-research
description	Research GitHub repositories, topics, trending projects, issues, discussions, and community activity. Use when user asks about GitHub projects, open-source tools, repo stats, contributor activity, or any task requiring GitHub data.

GitHub Research Skill

Research GitHub repositories, topics, trends, and community activity using the gh CLI and web extraction.

Quick Start

# Search repositories by topic/keyword
gh search repos "paperclip" --limit 10

# Get repo details
gh repo view NousResearch/hermes-agent

# List repo issues
gh issue list --repo paperclipai/paperclip --state all --limit 20

# Search issues/discussions
gh search issues "multi-agent orchestration" --limit 10

# Get repo README
gh repo view paperclipai/paperclip --json readme --jq '.readme' | head -100

# Trending repos
gh search repos "created:>2026-01-01" --sort stars --limit 20

Research Workflow

1. Discover repos: Use gh search repos to find relevant projects
2. Get overview: gh repo view for description, stars, forks, topics
3. Deep dive: Clone or extract README, check issues for pain points/features
4. Community signals: Recent commits, PR activity, contributor count

Key gh Commands

Task	Command
Search repos	gh search repos "query" --limit 10
Repo details	gh repo view owner/repo
Issues	gh issue list --repo owner/repo --state all --limit 20
PRs	gh pr list --repo owner/repo --state all --limit 10
Releases	gh release list --repo owner/repo
Topics	gh repo list owner --topic topic-name
Star history	gh api repos/owner/repo/stargazers --paginate

Web Extraction (for non-gh tasks)

When gh doesn't cover it, use Firecrawl or web search:

# Extract README directly
web_extract(urls: ["https://github.com/owner/repo"])

# Get GitHub Topics page
web_search(query: "site:github.com paperclip AI orchestration")

Common Patterns

Competitive Analysis

gh search repos "<competitor>" --limit 5
gh repo view <competitor>/<repo> --json description,stars,forks,topics
gh issue list --repo <competitor>/<repo> --state all --limit 10

Project Health Assessment

gh api repos/owner/repo --jq '{stars, forks, open_issues, subscribers, updated_at}'
gh api repos/owner/repo/commit_activity --jq '.[-12:]'  # last 12 weeks
gh api repos/owner/repo/contributors --jq 'length'

Finding Similar Projects

gh search repos "topic:ai-agents orchestration" --sort stars --limit 10
gh search repos "topic:multi-agent" --sort updated --limit 10