github-cli-usage

name	GitHub CLI usage
description	Instructions for using the `gh` command to query and inspect GitHub state safely.

GitHub CLI usage

This skill provides instructions for using the GitHub CLI (gh) to query, inspect, and search GitHub state (issues, pull requests, repositories) for the Carbon project.

Safety First: Read-Only Usage

[!IMPORTANT] AI assistants MUST NOT use the gh tool to modify any GitHub project state. Do NOT run commands that create, edit, delete, label, comment on, or merge issues, pull requests, releases, or any other resources.

Allowed Verbs

• list
• view
• search
• status
• api (Only with GET requests)

Prohibited Verbs

• create
• edit
• delete
• merge
• reopen
• close
• comment
• label

Repository Configuration

The gh tool interacts with a default repository when run within a local check out. For this project, the default repository is expected to be carbon-language/carbon-lang.

Verifying Default Repository

To verify the current default repository configuration:

gh repo view

The output should indicate the repository is carbon-language/carbon-lang.

Correcting Misconfigurations

If the default repository is misconfigured (for example, pointing to a personal fork or a different repository), the human operator must correct it.

[!IMPORTANT] AI Assistants MUST NOT attempt to mutate gh configuration or run commands that change the default repository (such as gh repository set-default).

Instruct the human operator to run the following command to select the correct default repository:

gh repo set-default

The operator will be prompted to select the correct repository (e.g., carbon-language/carbon-lang) from the available remotes.

Common Query Commands

Issues

• List issues: gh issue list
• View specific issue: gh issue view <number>
• Search issues: gh issue search "<query>"
  • Example: gh issue search "crash" --state open

Pull Requests

• List PRs: gh pr list
• View specific PR: gh pr view <number>
• View PR diff: gh pr diff <number>
• Check PR status: gh pr status

Search

• Search code: gh search code "<query>"
• Search repositories: gh search repos "<query>"

Advanced Usage: GitHub API

For queries that are not supported by standard gh commands, you can use the gh api command to query the GitHub REST or GraphQL APIs.

REST API

Query the REST API using paths relative to the API root.

• List contributors:

  gh api repos/carbon-language/carbon-lang/contributors
  

• List issue comments:

  gh api repos/carbon-language/carbon-lang/issues/<issue_number>/comments
  

GraphQL API

For complex queries, use GraphQL to fetch exactly the data needed.

• Get repository information:

  gh api graphql -f query='
    query {
      repository(owner: "carbon-language", name: "carbon-lang") {
        description
        stargazerCount
      }
    }
  '
  

Pagination

Use the --paginate flag to automatically fetch all pages of results.

gh api --paginate repos/carbon-language/carbon-lang/issues

Filtering and Formatting

Use --json to request JSON output, and --jq or --template to filter or format the results.

• List PR titles and authors:

  gh pr list --json title,author --jq '.[] | "\(.title) by \(.author.login)"'
  

• Format with Go templates:

  gh issue list --template '{{range .}}{{.number}} - {{.title}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}'
  

Documentation References

• GitHub CLI Manual: cli.github.com/manual
• GitHub REST API Documentation: docs.github.com/en/rest
• GitHub GraphQL API Documentation: docs.github.com/en/graphql