Github Management

Github Management

Use this skill for full-cycle GitHub repository management. Prefer gh CLI for authenticated operations and use GitHub REST or GraphQL only when gh does not expose the needed data cleanly.

Core Rule

Collect facts first, summarize risk, then ask before any mutating action.

Mutating actions include pushing commits, merging PRs, closing issues, deleting branches or tags, creating releases, changing labels or milestones, editing branch protection, changing repository settings, modifying permissions, dismissing reviews, rerunning workflows, and applying generated fixes.

Run the pipeline exactly:

Context -> Auth -> Read-only Inspect -> Risk Summary -> Confirmation -> Mutation -> Verification

If context, authentication, target identifiers, or user intent are missing, stop and ask. Do not guess.

Authentication Onboarding

When this skill is triggered, first decide whether GitHub authentication is already ready for the requested repo. If readiness is unknown or missing, tell the user how to configure GitHub access step by step before doing GitHub management work.

Do not skip this onboarding. Use references/authentication.md and present the user-facing steps there. Keep the guidance practical:

1. Ask the user to create a classic Personal Access Token with repo scope.
2. Tell them to save it locally under this skill's config/ folder, never in chat.
3. Tell them to run gh auth login --with-token < config/token and gh auth setup-git.
4. Tell them to verify with gh auth status.
5. Continue only after authentication is confirmed or the task is explicitly read-only and does not require GitHub access.

Workflow

1. Confirm repository context.
   • Run python "<skill-path>/scripts/inspect_repo_context.py" --repo "." --json when you need one read-only snapshot of local remotes, current branch, repo slug, and auth readiness.
   • Identify the local repository path and remote with git remote -v.
   • Confirm the target owner/repo with gh repo view --json nameWithOwner,url.
   • If the task references a PR, issue, release, branch, label, or workflow, resolve its exact identifier before acting.
2. Verify authentication.
   • Read references/authentication.md and inspect config/auth.example.json for the expected local auth shape.
   • Run gh auth status.
   • If authentication or scope is missing, guide the user through gh auth login --with-token < config/token, gh auth setup-git, or the configured token environment.
   • Do not accept tokens pasted into chat. Do not log tokens. Do not commit config/auth.local.json, config/token, or secret config files.
3. Gather read-only state.
   • Use scripts in scripts/ when they match the task.
   • Use --json output when the result will feed later reasoning.
4. Summarize findings.
   • Include target repo, object IDs, URLs, current state, risks, and recommended next actions.
   • Separate GitHub Actions from external CI providers; report external provider URLs without attempting provider-specific access.
5. Get explicit confirmation before mutation.
   • For high-risk operations, require the user to name the exact operation and target.
   • If a helper script supports dry-run mode, run dry-run first and show the planned command/effect.
6. Execute the confirmed action.
   • Use the smallest scoped gh command or API call.
   • Preserve user work and avoid unrelated repo changes.
7. Verify after action.
   • Re-run the relevant read-only inspection.
   • Report the evidence, not assumptions.

Helper Scripts

Use these scripts from the repository being managed unless the user provides another path:

python "<skill-path>/scripts/inspect_pr.py" --repo "." --json
python "<skill-path>/scripts/inspect_ci.py" --repo "." --json
python "<skill-path>/scripts/inspect_pr_checks.py" --repo "." --json
python "<skill-path>/scripts/inspect_repo_context.py" --repo "." --json
python "<skill-path>/scripts/inspect_release.py" --repo "." --json
python "<skill-path>/scripts/fetch_comments.py" --repo "." --json
python "<skill-path>/scripts/triage_issues.py" --repo "." --json
python "<skill-path>/scripts/repo_audit.py" --repo "." --json

All JSON output uses:

{"ok": true, "source": "github-management", "items": [], "warnings": [], "next_actions": []}

Task Guide

Security Reference Routing

For security best practices, identify the repo language and framework, then load every matching reference:

• Go backend: references/security-best-practices-golang-general-backend-security.md
• JavaScript Express backend: references/security-best-practices-javascript-express-web-server-security.md
• JavaScript frontend, no framework or unclear framework: references/security-best-practices-javascript-general-web-frontend-security.md
• jQuery frontend: references/security-best-practices-javascript-jquery-web-frontend-security.md
• TypeScript/Next.js backend or full-stack app: references/security-best-practices-javascript-typescript-nextjs-web-server-security.md
• TypeScript/React frontend: references/security-best-practices-javascript-typescript-react-web-frontend-security.md
• TypeScript/Vue frontend: references/security-best-practices-javascript-typescript-vue-web-frontend-security.md
• Python Django backend: references/security-best-practices-python-django-web-server-security.md
• Python FastAPI backend: references/security-best-practices-python-fastapi-web-server-security.md
• Python Flask backend: references/security-best-practices-python-flask-web-server-security.md

For threat modeling, stay repo-grounded: use evidence anchors, trust boundaries, assets, attacker capabilities, abuse paths, mitigations, and explicit assumptions from references/security-threat-model-template.md.

For security ownership map tasks, keep analysis read-only against git history. Write artifacts only to the user-specified output directory or a repo-local ownership-map-out/, then use references/security-ownership-neo4j-import.md only when graph import is requested.

References

• Read references/authentication.md before configuring or troubleshooting GitHub authentication.
• Read references/safety-policy.md before any mutating GitHub action.
• Read references/workflows.md for task-specific GitHub workflows.
• Read references/review-comments.md for PR comment and review-thread handling.
• Read references/ci-diagnostics.md for failing check and log inspection.
• Read references/development-practices.md before code changes caused by GitHub management work.
• Read references/release-installation.md for this skill's local release branch, floating install tag, and Codex install path.
• Read references/source-attribution.md when source provenance matters.

Common Mistakes

• Do not infer authentication from local git access; always check gh auth status.
• Do not treat external CI as GitHub Actions; report the URL and ask for access or logs.
• Do not merge or close anything because tests pass; summarize and ask first.
• Do not modify repository settings from an audit command. Audits are read-only.
• Do not assume release is a safe short ref if a tag named release exists; use github-management-release for the floating install tag and report ambiguity explicitly.
• Do not hide uncertainty. If GitHub returns partial data or permissions block a check, report the gap.