GitHub Skill

Use the gh CLI to interact with GitHub. Always specify --repo owner/repo when not in a git directory, or use URLs directly.

Searching Issues & PRs

Search for existing issues before creating duplicates:

# Search issues in a specific repo
gh search issues "vim visual mode" --repo zed-industries/zed --limit 10

# Search with state filter
gh search issues "search results" --repo zed-industries/zed --state open

# Search with labels
gh search issues "bug" --repo owner/repo --label "vim"

# Search PRs
gh search prs "fix vim" --repo zed-industries/zed --state open

Advanced search qualifiers (same as GitHub web search):

# Issues mentioning specific text in title
gh search issues "in:title project search vim" --repo zed-industries/zed

# Issues by author or assignee
gh search issues "author:username" --repo owner/repo
gh search issues "assignee:username" --repo owner/repo

# Combine qualifiers
gh search issues "vim visual mode in:title,body state:open" --repo zed-industries/zed

Issues

List issues:

gh issue list --repo owner/repo
gh issue list --repo owner/repo --state open --label "bug"
gh issue list --repo owner/repo --assignee @me

View an issue:

gh issue view 1234 --repo owner/repo
gh issue view 1234 --repo owner/repo --comments  # include comments

Create an issue:

gh issue create --repo owner/repo --title "Bug: ..." --body "Description..."
gh issue create --repo owner/repo --title "Bug" --body "Desc" --label "bug,vim"

Pull Requests

Check CI status on a PR:

gh pr checks 55 --repo owner/repo

List PRs:

gh pr list --repo owner/repo
gh pr list --repo owner/repo --state open --author @me

View PR details:

gh pr view 55 --repo owner/repo
gh pr view 55 --repo owner/repo --comments

CI/Workflow Runs

List recent workflow runs:

gh run list --repo owner/repo --limit 10
gh run list --repo owner/repo --workflow ci.yml  # specific workflow

View a run and see which steps failed:

gh run view <run-id> --repo owner/repo

View logs for failed steps only:

gh run view <run-id> --repo owner/repo --log-failed

Re-run failed jobs:

gh run rerun <run-id> --repo owner/repo --failed

API for Advanced Queries

The gh api command is useful for accessing data not available through other subcommands.

Get PR with specific fields:

gh api repos/owner/repo/pulls/55 --jq '.title, .state, .user.login'

Search via API (more control):

gh api search/issues --method GET -f q="repo:zed-industries/zed vim visual mode" --jq '.items[] | "\(.number): \(.title)"'

Get repo info:

gh api repos/owner/repo --jq '.stargazers_count, .open_issues_count'

JSON Output

Most commands support --json for structured output. Use --jq to filter:

gh issue list --repo owner/repo --json number,title --jq '.[] | "\(.number): \(.title)"'
gh pr list --repo owner/repo --json number,title,author --jq '.[] | "\(.number) by \(.author.login): \(.title)"'

Common Workflows

Check if an issue already exists before creating:

gh search issues "your bug description" --repo owner/repo --state open
# If no results, create:
gh issue create --repo owner/repo --title "Bug: ..." --body "..."

Find PRs that fix an issue:

gh search prs "fixes #1234" --repo owner/repo

Watch CI on your PR:

gh pr checks 55 --repo owner/repo --watch