| 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
gh search repos "paperclip" --limit 10
gh repo view NousResearch/hermes-agent
gh issue list --repo paperclipai/paperclip --state all --limit 20
gh search issues "multi-agent orchestration" --limit 10
gh repo view paperclipai/paperclip --json readme --jq '.readme' | head -100
gh search repos "created:>2026-01-01" --sort stars --limit 20
Research Workflow
- Discover repos: Use
gh search repos to find relevant projects
- Get overview:
gh repo view for description, stars, forks, topics
- Deep dive: Clone or extract README, check issues for pain points/features
- 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:
web_extract(urls: ["https://github.com/owner/repo"])
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