block GitHub Research
Search GitHub for prior art, implementation patterns, and maintainer decisions.
Commands
# Search issues
gh search issues "topic" --repo owner/repo --limit 20 \
--json number,title,state,url
# Search merged PRs (highest signal)
gh search prs "topic" --repo owner/repo --merged --limit 20 \
--json number,title,url
# Search code (use query syntax for path filtering)
gh search code "pattern path:src/" --repo owner/repo --limit 20 \
--json path,textMatches
# Get full issue or PR details
gh issue view 123 --repo owner/repo --json number,title,body,comments
gh pr view 456 --repo owner/repo --json number,title,body,reviews,files
Rate Limits
- Search API: 30 requests/minute
- Check with:
gh api rate_limit --jq '.resources.search'
Signal Ranking
- Merged PRs — decisions that shipped
- Maintainer comments — authoritative
- Closed issues with solutions — problems solved
- Open issues — current problems (lower signal)
Report Format
## Research: [Topic]
### Summary
- Key finding 1 [#123]
- Key finding 2 [PR #456]
### Findings
1. **#123: [Title]** — [summary]. URL: https://...
2. **PR #456: [Title]** — [what it changed]. URL: https://...
### Gaps
- [What you looked for but didn't find]
Always include URLs. If nothing relevant exists, say so.