GitHub CLI Master

Full GitHub operations from the terminal using gh. Covers PRs, issues, releases, CI/CD, and the API escape hatch.

When this applies

• Managing pull requests (create, review, merge, diff)
• Triaging issues (list, create, comment, close)
• Monitoring or triggering CI/CD workflow runs
• Creating releases and tags
• Searching code or repositories
• Any GitHub operation

Auth

gh authenticates via GITHUB_TOKEN env var or gh auth login. Check with gh auth status.

Pull Requests

gh pr list                                    # open PRs
gh pr list --state merged --limit 5           # recent merges
gh pr view 42                                 # full details
gh pr diff 42                                 # view diff
gh pr create --title "feat: X" --body "..."   # create PR
gh pr create --draft                          # draft PR
gh pr review 42 --approve                     # approve
gh pr review 42 --request-changes -b "fix X"  # request changes
gh pr merge 42 --squash --delete-branch       # merge
gh pr checks 42                               # CI status
gh pr checkout 42                             # switch to PR branch

Issues

gh issue list                                 # open issues
gh issue list --label bug --state open        # filtered
gh issue view 15                              # full details
gh issue create --title "Bug: X" --body "..." # create
gh issue comment 15 --body "update: ..."      # comment
gh issue close 15 --reason completed          # close
gh issue reopen 15                            # reopen
gh issue edit 15 --add-label priority         # add label

CI/CD — Workflow Runs

gh run list                                   # recent runs
gh run list --workflow ci.yml --branch main    # filtered
gh run view 123456                            # run details
gh run view 123456 --log-failed               # failed job logs
gh run rerun 123456 --failed                  # rerun failed jobs
gh workflow run deploy.yml -f env=prod        # trigger workflow
gh workflow list                              # list workflows

Releases

gh release list                               # list releases
gh release view v1.2.0                        # details
gh release create v1.3.0 --title "v1.3.0" --notes "changelog" # create
gh release create v1.3.0 --generate-notes     # auto-generate notes
gh release create v2.0.0-rc1 --prerelease     # pre-release
gh release upload v1.3.0 dist/*.tar.gz        # upload assets

Search

gh search repos "agent framework" --language python --sort stars
gh search code "def run_agent" --repo owner/repo
gh search issues "memory leak" --repo owner/repo --state open
gh search prs "fix auth" --repo owner/repo

Repo Operations

gh repo view owner/repo                       # repo info
gh repo clone owner/repo                      # clone
gh repo fork owner/repo                       # fork
gh repo create my-repo --public               # create new

API Escape Hatch

For anything not covered by specific commands:

gh api /repos/owner/repo                      # GET (default)
gh api /repos/owner/repo/labels -f name=bug -f color=d73a4a  # POST
gh api graphql -f query='{ viewer { login }}'                 # GraphQL
gh api /repos/owner/repo/actions/runners --jq '.[].name'     # with jq

Decision Rules

• Need PR CI status before merging → gh pr checks 42
• CI failed → gh run view ID --log-failed to see why, then gh run rerun ID --failed
• Need something not covered → gh api handles any GitHub endpoint
• Large diff → gh pr diff 42 | head -200 to avoid overwhelming output
• Check if issue exists before creating → gh search issues "error message" --repo owner/repo

Do

• Use --json flag + --jq for structured output: gh pr list --json number,title --jq '.[].title'
• Use --squash merge by default (cleaner history)
• Link issues in PR body with Closes #N
• Check gh pr checks before merging
• Use gh run view --log-failed to diagnose CI failures

Don't

• Merge PRs with failing checks (breaks main)
• Force-merge without user confirmation (irreversible)
• Use gh api with DELETE without user confirmation (destructive)
• Create releases without checking latest version first (gh release list)
• Rerun failed CI more than once without investigating logs (masks real failures)