gh-github

GitHub CLI Skill

Use gh CLI for all GitHub interactions. Never use raw API calls, curl, or WebFetch for github.com URLs.

URL Parsing

When the user provides a GitHub URL, extract the relevant parts and map to gh subcommands:

URL Pattern	Command
github.com/OWNER/REPO	gh repo view OWNER/REPO
github.com/OWNER/REPO/pull/N	gh pr view N --repo OWNER/REPO
github.com/OWNER/REPO/issues/N	gh issue view N --repo OWNER/REPO
github.com/OWNER/REPO/actions/runs/ID	gh run view ID --repo OWNER/REPO
github.com/OWNER/REPO/releases/tag/TAG	gh release view TAG --repo OWNER/REPO
github.com/OWNER/REPO/commit/SHA	gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/commits/SHA
github.com/OWNER/REPO/blob/...	gh api to fetch file contents or clone

Always include --repo OWNER/REPO when operating outside the current repo context.

Common Operations

PRs

gh pr view N                    # view PR details
gh pr view N --comments         # view PR with comments
gh pr diff N                    # view PR diff
gh pr checks N                  # view CI status
gh pr list                      # list open PRs
gh pr list --state merged       # list merged PRs
gh pr list --author @me         # my PRs
gh pr review N --approve        # approve PR
gh pr merge N --squash          # merge PR

Issues

gh issue view N                 # view issue
gh issue list                   # list open issues
gh issue list --label bug       # filter by label
gh issue create --title "..." --body "..."
gh issue comment N --body "..."

Repos

gh repo view OWNER/REPO         # repo overview
gh repo clone OWNER/REPO        # clone
gh repo list OWNER              # list repos for owner
gh search repos "query"         # search repos

Actions / CI

gh run list                     # recent workflow runs
gh run view ID                  # run details
gh run view ID --log            # full logs
gh run view ID --log-failed     # only failed step logs
gh run rerun ID                 # rerun a failed run
gh workflow list                # list workflows
gh workflow run NAME            # trigger workflow

Releases

gh release list                 # list releases
gh release view TAG             # view specific release
gh release create TAG --generate-notes

API (fallback for anything gh doesn't have a subcommand for)

gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/commits/SHA
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/pulls/N/comments
gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/actions/artifacts
gh api graphql -f query='{ ... }'

Rules

• Always prefer gh subcommands over gh api when a subcommand exists.
• For PR review comments use gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/pulls/N/comments (review comments) vs gh issue view N --comments (conversation comments).
• Use --json flag + --jq for extracting specific fields when the user needs structured data.
• If gh auth status fails, tell the user to run gh auth login.
• When inside a git repo that tracks a GitHub remote, --repo can be omitted.
• For large outputs (logs, diffs), pipe through head or use --limit flags to avoid flooding the terminal.