github

name	github
description	Use when interacting with GitHub repositories, issues, pull requests, review comments, or GraphQL operations.
license	CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0
metadata	{"copyright":"Caleb Cushing"}

GitHub Skill

This skill covers GitHub platform tools and APIs — MCP tools, the gh CLI, and GraphQL queries. It is GitHub-specific; for commit/push/PR workflow mechanics (which are platform-agnostic), use the pull-request skill instead.

Tool Priority

1. Prefer MCP tools - Use GitHub MCP tools when available (e.g., pull_request_read, issue_write)
2. Fall back to GitHub CLI - Use gh command when MCP tools are unavailable
3. Disable pagination - Use GH_PAGER=cat with CLI commands

Why MCP Over CLI

• More reliable structured responses (no parsing shell output)
• Built-in authentication handling
• Safer (no shell injection risks)
• Better error messages

GraphQL via CLI

When MCP tools are unavailable, use gh api graphql for operations not covered by REST API:

Query Review Threads

gh api graphql -f query='
query {
  repository(owner: "OWNER", name: "REPO") {
    pullRequest(number: N) {
      reviewThreads(first: 100) {
        nodes {
          id
          isResolved
          comments(first: 1) {
            nodes {
              id
              body
              author { login }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}' --jq '.data.repository.pullRequest.reviewThreads.nodes | map(select(.isResolved == false))'

Reply to Review Thread

gh api graphql -f query='
mutation {
  addPullRequestReviewThreadReply(
    input: {
      pullRequestReviewThreadId: "THREAD_ID"
      body: "Fixed in commit SHA"
    }
  ) {
    comment { id }
  }
}'