GitHub CLI

GitHub CLI (gh)

Expert guidance for GitHub CLI operations and workflows.

Installation & Setup

# Login to GitHub
gh auth login

# Check authentication status
gh auth status

# Configure git to use gh as credential helper
gh auth setup-git

Pull Requests

Creating PRs

# Create PR interactively
gh pr create

# Create PR with title and body
gh pr create --title "Add feature" --body "Description"

# Create PR to specific branch
gh pr create --base main --head feature-branch

# Create draft PR
gh pr create --draft

# Create PR from current branch
gh pr create --fill  # Uses commit messages

Viewing PRs

# List PRs
gh pr list

# List my PRs
gh pr list --author @me

# View PR details
gh pr view 123

# View PR in browser
gh pr view 123 --web

# View PR diff
gh pr diff 123

# Check PR status
gh pr status

Managing PRs

# Checkout PR locally
gh pr checkout 123

# Review PR
gh pr review 123 --approve
gh pr review 123 --comment --body "Looks good!"
gh pr review 123 --request-changes --body "Please fix X"

# Merge PR
gh pr merge 123
gh pr merge 123 --squash
gh pr merge 123 --rebase
gh pr merge 123 --merge

# Close PR
gh pr close 123

# Reopen PR
gh pr reopen 123

# Ready draft PR
gh pr ready 123

PR Checks

# View PR checks
gh pr checks 123

# Watch PR checks
gh pr checks 123 --watch

Issues

Creating Issues

# Create issue interactively
gh issue create

# Create issue with title and body
gh issue create --title "Bug report" --body "Description"

# Create issue with labels
gh issue create --title "Bug" --label bug,critical

# Assign issue
gh issue create --title "Task" --assignee @me

Viewing Issues

# List issues
gh issue list

# List my issues
gh issue list --assignee @me

# List by label
gh issue list --label bug

# View issue details
gh issue view 456

# View in browser
gh issue view 456 --web

Managing Issues

# Close issue
gh issue close 456

# Reopen issue
gh issue reopen 456

# Edit issue
gh issue edit 456 --title "New title"
gh issue edit 456 --add-label bug
gh issue edit 456 --add-assignee @user

# Comment on issue
gh issue comment 456 --body "Update"

Repository Operations

Repository Info

# View repository
gh repo view

# View in browser
gh repo view --web

# Clone repository
gh repo clone owner/repo

# Fork repository
gh repo fork owner/repo

# List repositories
gh repo list owner

Repository Management

# Create repository
gh repo create my-repo --public
gh repo create my-repo --private

# Delete repository
gh repo delete owner/repo

# Sync fork
gh repo sync owner/repo

# Set default repository
gh repo set-default

Workflows & Actions

Viewing Workflows

# List workflows
gh workflow list

# View workflow runs
gh run list

# View specific run
gh run view 789

# Watch run
gh run watch 789

# View run logs
gh run view 789 --log

Managing Workflows

# Trigger workflow
gh workflow run workflow.yml

# Cancel run
gh run cancel 789

# Rerun workflow
gh run rerun 789

# Download artifacts
gh run download 789

Releases

Creating Releases

# Create release
gh release create v1.0.0

# Create release with notes
gh release create v1.0.0 --notes "Release notes"

# Create release with files
gh release create v1.0.0 dist/*.tar.gz

# Create draft release
gh release create v1.0.0 --draft

# Generate release notes automatically
gh release create v1.0.0 --generate-notes

Managing Releases

# List releases
gh release list

# View release
gh release view v1.0.0

# Download release assets
gh release download v1.0.0

# Delete release
gh release delete v1.0.0

Gists

# Create gist
gh gist create file.txt

# Create gist from stdin
echo "content" | gh gist create -

# List gists
gh gist list

# View gist
gh gist view <gist-id>

# Edit gist
gh gist edit <gist-id>

# Delete gist
gh gist delete <gist-id>

Advanced Features

Aliases

# Create alias
gh alias set pv "pr view"
gh alias set bugs "issue list --label bug"

# List aliases
gh alias list

# Use alias
gh pv 123

API Access

# Make API call
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/issues

# With JSON data
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/issues -f title="Bug" -f body="Description"

# Paginated results
gh api --paginate repos/:owner/:repo/issues

Extensions

# List extensions
gh extension list

# Install extension
gh extension install owner/gh-extension

# Upgrade extensions
gh extension upgrade --all

Common Workflows

Code Review Workflow

# List PRs assigned to you
gh pr list --assignee @me

# Checkout PR for testing
gh pr checkout 123

# Run tests, review code...

# Approve PR
gh pr review 123 --approve --body "LGTM!"

# Merge PR
gh pr merge 123 --squash

Quick PR Creation

# Create feature branch, make changes, commit
git checkout -b feature/new-feature
# ... make changes ...
git add .
git commit -m "Add new feature"
git push -u origin feature/new-feature

# Create PR from commits
gh pr create --fill

# View PR
gh pr view --web

Issue Triage

# List open issues
gh issue list

# Add labels to issues
gh issue edit 456 --add-label needs-triage
gh issue edit 456 --add-label bug

# Assign issue
gh issue edit 456 --add-assignee @developer

Configuration

# Set default editor
gh config set editor vim

# Set default git protocol
gh config set git_protocol ssh

# View configuration
gh config list

# Set browser
gh config set browser firefox

Tips

1. Use --web flag: Open items in browser for detailed view
2. Interactive prompts: Most commands work interactively if you omit parameters
3. Filters: Use --author, --label, --state to filter lists
4. JSON output: Add --json flag for scriptable output
5. Template repos: Use gh repo create --template for templates
6. Auto-merge: Enable with gh pr merge --auto