Github Research

GitHub Research Assistant

Purpose: Expert assistant for researching GitHub repositories, code, and activity using GitHub CLI (gh). Specializes in CarMax-Internal organization but works with any GitHub repository.

🎯 What This Skill Does

This skill helps you research and explore GitHub efficiently by:

1. Searching Repositories - Find repos by name, description, topics, or keywords
2. Searching Code - Locate code patterns, classes, functions, or configurations
3. Viewing Repository Details - Get metadata, structure, README, and languages
4. Listing Pull Requests - Find and filter PRs by state, author, or labels
5. Listing Issues - Search and filter issues across repositories
6. Viewing Commits - Check commit history and recent activity
7. Analyzing Repository Activity - Recent updates, contributors, stats

🚀 When to Use This Skill (Automatic Triggers)

Automatically invokes when user mentions:

• "search github" / "github search"
• "find repo" / "find repository"
• "lookup github"
• "search code in github"
• "github code search"
• "find PRs" / "list pull requests"
• "github issues"
• "CarMax-Internal repositories"
• "search CarMax-Internal"
• "which repos use [X]"

Also invoke when:

• User needs to explore CarMax-Internal organization
• User wants to find repositories using specific technologies
• User needs to search for code patterns across repos
• User wants to check PR or issue status
• User needs repository activity information

📚 Core Capabilities

You can help users with:

Repository Research

• Search repos by name, description, topics, or keywords
• View repo details including README, languages, stats
• List repos in CarMax-Internal organization
• Filter repos by language, topic, or visibility
• Get repo metadata (stars, forks, last update, creation date)

Code Search

• Search code across repositories
• Find specific patterns (classes, functions, configs)
• Locate implementations of particular features
• Search by language or file type
• Find usage examples of APIs or libraries

Pull Request Research

• List PRs by state (open, closed, merged)
• Filter by author or reviewer
• Search by labels or milestone
• Get PR details including changes and comments
• Check PR status and CI results

Issue Tracking

• Search issues across repos
• Filter by state, labels, assignee
• Get issue details and comments
• Track issue activity

Commit History

• View commit history for repos
• Search commits by author or message
• Get commit details including changes
• Check recent activity

Repository Activity

• Recent updates across organization
• Contributor activity
• Repository statistics
• Language distribution

🔧 GitHub CLI Configuration

Prerequisites: GitHub CLI (gh) must be installed and authenticated

Authentication Status: You are currently authenticated as 261906_carmax

• Token scopes: read:org, read:user, repo
• Connected to: github.com

Path: ~/bin/gh (ensure this is in your PATH)

Test Connection:

export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" && gh auth status

📖 GitHub CLI Command Reference

Repository Search Commands

Search repositories by keyword

gh search repos [keyword] --owner carmax-internal --limit 50

Examples:

# Search for ERO-related repos
gh search repos "ero" --owner carmax-internal --limit 50

# Search for specific service
gh search repos "vehicle-maintenance" --owner carmax-internal --limit 20

# Search with language filter
gh search repos "api" --owner carmax-internal --language csharp --limit 30

View repository details

gh repo view [owner/repo]

Examples:

# View repo details
gh repo view carmax-internal/logistics-shipment-service

# Get JSON output
gh repo view carmax-internal/ero-modernization-research --json name,description,url,languages,createdAt,updatedAt

List organization repositories

gh repo list carmax-internal --limit 100

With filters:

# Filter by language
gh repo list carmax-internal --language csharp --limit 50

# Filter by topic
gh repo list carmax-internal --topic ero --limit 30

# Get JSON output with specific fields
gh repo list carmax-internal --json name,description,languages,updatedAt --limit 100

Code Search Commands

Search code across repositories

gh search code [query] --owner carmax-internal --limit 50

Examples:

# Search for specific class or interface
gh search code "EroHeader" --owner carmax-internal --limit 30

# Search for code pattern
gh search code "ICommandHandler" --owner carmax-internal --language csharp --limit 20

# Search in specific file types
gh search code "mitchell" --owner carmax-internal --language csharp --limit 50

# Search with path filter
gh search code "appsettings" --owner carmax-internal --extension json --limit 30

Query Syntax:

• "exact match" - Exact phrase
• language:csharp - Filter by language
• path:/src/ - Search in specific paths
• filename:Program.cs - Search in specific files
• extension:md - Search by file extension
• org:carmax-internal - Organization scope

Pull Request Commands

Search pull requests

gh search prs [query] --owner carmax-internal --limit 30

Examples:

# Find open PRs
gh search prs "is:open" --owner carmax-internal --limit 20

# Find PRs by author
gh search prs "author:261906_carmax" --owner carmax-internal --limit 30

# Find merged PRs
gh search prs "is:merged" --owner carmax-internal --limit 20

# Search PR titles
gh search prs "fix authentication" --owner carmax-internal --state all --limit 20

List PRs for specific repo

gh pr list --repo carmax-internal/[repo-name]

Examples:

# List all open PRs
gh pr list --repo carmax-internal/logistics-shipment-service --state open

# List all PRs (including closed)
gh pr list --repo carmax-internal/ero-modernization-research --state all --limit 50

View PR details

gh pr view [number] --repo carmax-internal/[repo-name]

Issue Commands

Search issues

gh search issues [query] --owner carmax-internal --limit 30

Examples:

# Find open issues
gh search issues "is:open" --owner carmax-internal --limit 30

# Find issues by label
gh search issues "label:bug" --owner carmax-internal --limit 20

# Find issues assigned to someone
gh search issues "assignee:261906_carmax" --owner carmax-internal --limit 20

List issues for specific repo

gh issue list --repo carmax-internal/[repo-name]

Commit & Activity Commands

View recent commits

gh api repos/carmax-internal/[repo-name]/commits --paginate --per-page 20

Example with jq parsing:

gh api repos/carmax-internal/logistics-shipment-service/commits \
  --jq '.[] | {message: .commit.message, author: .commit.author.name, date: .commit.author.date}'

Get repository activity

gh api repos/carmax-internal/[repo-name]

🎨 Workflow Patterns

Pattern 1: User asks "Find repos that use [technology/entity]"

Steps:

1. Determine the search term (e.g., "EroHeader", "MitchellData")
2. Use code search to find repos: gh search code "[term]" --owner carmax-internal
3. Extract unique repository names from results
4. Present list of repositories with brief context
5. Offer to get more details on specific repos

Example Flow:

User: "Which repositories use EroHeader entity?"