GitHub CLI (gh)

Overview

Expert guidance for GitHub CLI (gh) operations and workflows. Use this skill for command-line GitHub operations including pull request management, issue tracking, repository operations, workflow automation, and codespace management.

Key capabilities:

• Create and manage pull requests from the terminal
• Track and organize issues efficiently
• Search across all of GitHub (repos, issues, PRs)
• Manage labels and project organization
• Trigger and monitor GitHub Actions workflows
• Work with codespaces
• Automate repository operations and releases
• Browse repositories, PRs, and files in the browser

Safety Rules

CRITICAL: This skill NEVER uses destructive gh CLI operations.

This skill focuses exclusively on safe, read-only, or reversible GitHub operations. The following commands are PROHIBITED and must NEVER be used:

Permanently destructive commands:

• gh repo delete - Repository deletion
• gh repo archive - Repository archival
• gh release delete - Release deletion
• gh release delete-asset - Asset deletion
• gh run delete - Workflow run deletion
• gh cache delete - Cache deletion
• gh secret delete - Secret deletion
• gh variable delete - Variable deletion
• gh label delete - Label deletion
• gh ssh-key delete - SSH key deletion (can lock out users)
• gh gpg-key delete - GPG key deletion
• gh codespace delete - Codespace deletion
• gh extension remove - Extension removal
• gh gist delete - Gist deletion
• Bulk deletion operations using xargs with any destructive commands
• Shell commands: rm -rf (except for temporary file cleanup)

Allowed operations:

• Creating resources (PRs, issues, releases, labels, repos)
• Viewing and listing (status, logs, information, searches)
• Updating and editing existing resources
• Closing PRs/issues (reversible - can be reopened)
• Reverting pull requests (creates a new revert PR)
• Canceling workflow runs (stops execution without deleting data)
• Merging pull requests (after proper review)
• Read-only git operations (git status, git log, git diff)

Installation & Setup

# Login to GitHub
gh auth login

# Login and copy OAuth code to clipboard automatically
gh auth login --clipboard

# Check authentication status
gh auth status

# Check auth status with JSON output
gh auth status --json

# Configure git to use gh as credential helper
gh auth setup-git

Pull Requests

Creating PRs

# Create PR interactively
gh pr create

# Create PR with title and body
gh pr create --title "Add feature" --body "Description"

# Create PR to specific branch
gh pr create --base main --head feature-branch

# Create draft PR
gh pr create --draft

# Create PR from current branch
gh pr create --fill  # Uses commit messages

# Create PR with Copilot Code Review
gh pr create --reviewer @copilot

Viewing PRs

# List PRs
gh pr list

# List my PRs
gh pr list --author @me

# View PR details
gh pr view 123

# View PR in browser
gh pr view 123 --web

# View PR diff
gh pr diff 123

# View PR diff excluding specific files
gh pr diff 123 --exclude "*.lock"

# Check PR status
gh pr status

Managing PRs

# Checkout PR locally
gh pr checkout 123

# Review PR
gh pr review 123 --approve
gh pr review 123 --comment --body "Looks good!"
gh pr review 123 --request-changes --body "Please fix X"

# Request Copilot Code Review
gh pr edit 123 --add-reviewer @copilot

# Merge PR
gh pr merge 123
gh pr merge 123 --squash
gh pr merge 123 --rebase
gh pr merge 123 --merge

# Close PR
gh pr close 123

# Reopen PR
gh pr reopen 123

# Ready draft PR
gh pr ready 123

# Update PR branch with base branch
gh pr update-branch 123

# Revert a merged PR (creates a new revert PR)
gh pr revert 123

PR Checks

# View PR checks
gh pr checks 123

# Watch PR checks
gh pr checks 123 --watch

Issues

Creating Issues

# Create issue interactively
gh issue create

# Create issue with title and body
gh issue create --title "Bug report" --body "Description"

# Use a Markdown issue template as interactive/editor starting body text
gh issue create --template "Bug Report"

# Create issue with labels
gh issue create --title "Bug" --label bug,critical

# Assign issue
gh issue create --title "Task" --assignee @me

# Set the issue type (GitHub.com and GHES 3.17+)
gh issue create --type Bug

--template cannot be combined with --body or --body-file; use it with prompts, --editor, or --web. For YAML issue forms, fetch and render the form fields yourself for non-interactive automation, or finish in the browser.

Viewing Issues

# List issues
gh issue list

# List my issues
gh issue list --assignee @me

# List by label
gh issue list --label bug

# Filter by issue type
gh issue list --type Bug

# Advanced issue search
gh issue list --search "is:open label:bug sort:created-desc"

# View issue details
gh issue view 456

# View in browser
gh issue view 456 --web

Managing Issues

# Close issue
gh issue close 456

# Close as duplicate, linking to the original issue
gh issue close 123 --duplicate-of 456

# Reopen issue
gh issue reopen 456

# Edit issue
gh issue edit 456 --title "New title"
gh issue edit 456 --add-label bug
gh issue edit 456 --add-assignee @user

# Comment on issue
gh issue comment 456 --body "Update"

# Create branch to work on issue
gh issue develop 456 --checkout

Issue Types, Sub-Issues & Relationships

Issue types and sub-issues require GitHub.com or GHES 3.17+; blocking relationships require GHES 3.19+.

# Set or remove the issue type
gh issue edit 456 --type Bug
gh issue edit 456 --remove-type

# Create a sub-issue under a parent
gh issue create --parent 100

# Organize existing issues into a parent/child hierarchy
gh issue edit 100 --add-sub-issue 123,124
gh issue edit 100 --remove-sub-issue 123
gh issue edit 123 --parent 100
gh issue edit 123 --remove-parent

# Track blocked-by / blocking relationships
gh issue create --blocked-by 200,201 --blocking 300
gh issue edit 123 --add-blocked-by 200 --add-blocking 300,301
gh issue edit 123 --remove-blocked-by 200 --remove-blocking 301

Discussions

When the user asks to list, view, create, edit, or comment on GitHub Discussions, see references/discussions.md. The gh discussion command set is in preview and subject to change.

Copilot Agent Tasks

Delegate work to the Copilot coding agent and track its sessions. The gh agent-task command set (aliases gh agent, gh agents) is in preview.

# Create an agent task on the current repository
gh agent-task create "Improve the performance of the data processing pipeline"

# List your most recent agent tasks
gh agent-task list
gh agent-task list --json id,name,state

# View an agent task session (by PR number, session ID, or URL)
gh agent-task view 123
gh agent-task view <session-id> --json state --jq '.state'

Agent Skills

Discover, install, and publish agent skills from GitHub repositories. The gh skill command set (alias gh skills) is in preview.

# Search for skills across GitHub
gh skill search terraform

# Preview a skill before installing
gh skill preview github/awesome-copilot documentation-writer

# Install a skill (default scope: project)
gh skill install github/awesome-copilot documentation-writer
gh skill install owner/repo skill-name --scope user --pin v1.2.0

# Include skills in hidden dirs (.claude/skills/, .agents/skills/, .github/skills/)
gh skill install owner/repo skill-name --allow-hidden-dirs

# List installed skills and update them
gh skill list
gh skill update --all

# Validate and publish your own skills
gh skill publish --dry-run

Repository Operations

Repository Info

# View repository
gh repo view

# View in browser
gh repo view --web

# Clone repository
gh repo clone owner/repo

# Clone without adding upstream remote
gh repo clone owner/repo --no-upstream

# Fork repository
gh repo fork owner/repo

# List repositories
gh repo list owner

Repository Management

# Create repository
gh repo create my-repo --public
gh repo create my-repo --private

# Sync fork
gh repo sync owner/repo

# Set default repository
gh repo set-default

# Configure the squash-merge commit message default
gh repo edit --squash-merge-commit-message COMMIT_MESSAGES

Reading Repo Contents

Read files and directories without cloning. The gh repo read-file and gh repo read-dir commands are in preview and subject to change.

# Read a file from the default branch (paged in a TTY, raw when piped)
gh repo read-file README.md --repo cli/cli

# Read from a specific branch, tag, or commit
gh repo read-file go.mod --ref v2.94.0 --repo cli/cli

# Write to disk instead of stdout (--clobber to overwrite)
gh repo read-file README.md --output ./README.md --clobber

# Refuse escape sequences by default; opt in for TTY/piped output
gh repo read-file script.sh --allow-escape-sequences

# List a directory (root when no path given)
gh repo read-dir script --repo cli/cli

# Inspect entries as JSON for scripting
gh repo read-dir docs --repo cli/cli --json name,path,type,size

Search

When the user asks to search GitHub repositories, issues, or pull requests, see references/search.md.

Labels

When the user asks to list, create, edit, or clone repository labels, see references/labels.md.

Codespaces

When the user asks to list, create, connect to, or manage files within GitHub Codespaces, see references/codespaces.md.

Browse

Open repositories, files, and resources in the browser.

# Open current repo in browser
gh browse

# Open specific file
gh browse src/main.go

# Open file at specific line
gh browse src/main.go:42

# Open blame view for a file
gh browse --blame src/main.go

# Open Actions tab
gh browse --actions

# Open specific branch
gh browse --branch feature

Releases

When the user asks to create, list, view, or download GitHub releases, see references/releases.md.

Gists

When the user asks to create, list, view, or edit GitHub gists, see references/gists.md.

Configuration

# Set default editor
gh config set editor vim

# Set default git protocol
gh config set git_protocol ssh

# View configuration
gh config list

# Set browser
gh config set browser firefox

Quick Reference

Common gh operations at a glance:

Additional Resources

Reference Guides

For detailed patterns and advanced usage, see:

• [Discussions](references/discussions.md) - List, view, create, edit, and comment on GitHub Discussions (preview)
• [Workflows & Actions](references/workflows-actions.md) - GitHub Actions workflows, runs, cache management, and CI/CD integration patterns
• [Advanced Features](references/advanced-features.md) - Aliases, API access, extensions, secrets, SSH/GPG keys, organizations, projects, and advanced scripting
• [Automation Workflows](references/automation-workflows.md) - Common automation patterns, daily reports, release automation, and team collaboration workflows
• [Troubleshooting](references/troubleshooting.md) - Solutions for authentication, permissions, rate limiting, and common errors

Example Scripts

Practical automation scripts (see examples/ directory):

• auto-pr-create.sh - Automated PR creation workflow
• issue-triage.sh - Bulk issue labeling and assignment
• workflow-monitor.sh - Watch and notify on workflow completion
• release-automation.sh - Complete release workflow automation

External Documentation

• Official Manual: https://cli.github.com/manual
• GitHub Community: https://github.com/cli/cli/discussions
• API Documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/rest
• Extension Marketplace: https://github.com/topics/gh-extension

JSON Output

When the user wants to use --json flags or needs the correct gh CLI JSON field names, see references/json-output.md.

Tips

1. Use --web flag to open items in browser for detailed view
2. Leverage interactive prompts by omitting parameters - most commands support interactive mode
3. Apply filters with --author, --label, --state to narrow down lists efficiently
4. Add --json flag to enable scriptable output for automation
5. Always check `--help` for valid JSON field names - they differ from GitHub API
6. Use gh repo create --template to scaffold from template repositories
7. Enable auto-merge with gh pr merge --auto for PRs that pass checks