gh-body-safe

name	gh-body-safe
description	Use when creating or editing GitHub PRs/issues/comments with `gh`; write markdown bodies to temp files and pass `--body-file` instead of inline `--body` to avoid shell quoting and markdown corruption across Windows, WSL2, and Linux.
version	1.0.0
author	Eric Hansen + Hermes Agent
license	MIT
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["github","gh","pull-requests","issues","shell","portability"],"related_skills":["github-pr-workflow","github-issues"]}}

GitHub CLI Body-File Safety

Overview

Use temp files for any non-trivial GitHub CLI body. Inline --body strings are fragile: shell escaping, backticks, markdown fences, quotes, $ expansion, and Windows/PowerShell differences can silently corrupt PR or issue text.

Hermes usually runs bash on this Windows host, but the workflow must remain portable to WSL2 and Linux. --body-file is the portable default.

When to Use

Use for:

• gh pr create
• gh pr edit
• gh issue create
• gh issue edit
• gh pr comment
• any gh command with multi-line markdown content

Skip only for trivial one-line comments with no special characters.

Bash Pattern

body_file="$(mktemp)"
cat > "$body_file" <<'EOF'
## Summary
- Change one
- Change two

## Testing
- `pytest`
EOF

gh pr create \
  --title "feat: concise title" \
  --body-file "$body_file"

rm -f "$body_file"

Edit Existing PR

body_file="$(mktemp)"
cat > "$body_file" <<'EOF'
## Updated Summary
Explain the revised scope here.
EOF

gh pr edit 123 --body-file "$body_file"
rm -f "$body_file"

Common Pitfalls

1. Do not use inline --body for markdown fences, backticks, or multi-line content.
2. Quote the heredoc delimiter as <<'EOF' so shell variables are not expanded.
3. Remove the temp file after the command succeeds or fails.
4. If a GitHub operation fails unexpectedly, run gh auth status before assuming the repo or PR is wrong.

Verification Checklist

• Body content was written to a temp file.
• Command used --body-file.
• Temp file was removed.
• Resulting PR/issue/comment was viewed after creation if correctness matters.