GitHub CLI (gh) - GitHub in Your Terminal

You're in the flow, coding in your terminal, and need to create a PR. Do you really want to open a browser, navigate to GitHub, fill out forms? GitHub CLI (gh) brings all of GitHub to your terminal - PRs, issues, actions, and more without leaving your workflow.

💻

Stay in Your Flow

Create PRs, manage issues, view workflow runs, and clone repos - all without opening a browser. GitHub in your terminal means no context switching.

Terminal-First GitHub

The GitHub CLI connects your terminal directly to GitHub's API, letting you accomplish common tasks faster than through the web interface:

Run gh commands in your terminal to interact with all GitHub features through the API

Key Features

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PR Creation

Create, view, merge, and checkout PRs without leaving the terminal. Auto-fills title from branch name

📌

Issue Management

List, create, close, and comment on issues. Filter by labels, assignees, or milestones instantly

🔍

Code Review

Review PRs, view diffs, approve or request changes - all from your terminal with syntax highlighting

⚙

Actions & Workflows

View workflow runs, watch logs in real-time, re-run failed jobs, trigger manual workflows

Practical Examples

Pull Request Workflow - the most common use case for gh:

Terminal - PR workflow

# Create a PR from current branch
gh pr create --title "Add user authentication" --body "Implements JWT auth"

# Create PR and open in browser for final review
gh pr create --web

# Create draft PR
gh pr create --draft

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

# View PR details
gh pr view 42

# Check out a PR locally to test it
gh pr checkout 42

# View PR diff
gh pr diff 42

# Approve a PR
gh pr review 42 --approve

# Request changes with a comment
gh pr review 42 --request-changes --body "Please add tests"

# Merge a PR (squash)
gh pr merge 42 --squash --delete-branch

Issue Management - track and triage issues efficiently:

Terminal - Issue commands

# List all open issues
gh issue list

# List bugs assigned to you
gh issue list --label bug --assignee @me

# Create a new issue
gh issue create --title "Button not clickable on mobile" --label bug

# Create issue with body from file
gh issue create --title "Feature request" --body-file description.md

# View issue details
gh issue view 23

# Close an issue with a comment
gh issue close 23 --comment "Fixed in #42"

# Reopen an issue
gh issue reopen 23

# Add labels to an issue
gh issue edit 23 --add-label "priority:high"

# Assign issue to yourself
gh issue edit 23 --add-assignee @me

GitHub Actions - monitor and manage CI/CD:

Terminal - Actions commands

# List recent workflow runs
gh run list

# View a specific run
gh run view 12345

# Watch a run in real-time (live logs!)
gh run watch 12345

# View logs for a failed run
gh run view 12345 --log-failed

# Re-run failed jobs
gh run rerun 12345 --failed

# Trigger a workflow manually
gh workflow run deploy.yml

# Trigger with inputs
gh workflow run deploy.yml -f environment=staging

# List all workflows
gh workflow list

# View workflow file
gh workflow view deploy.yml

Why Developers Love It

✓ No Context Switching - Stay in your terminal. Create PRs right after committing, no browser needed
✓ Scriptable - Automate GitHub tasks in shell scripts, CI pipelines, or cron jobs
✓ Faster Than Web UI - gh pr create is faster than clicking through forms
✓ Live CI Logs - Watch Actions run in real-time with gh run watch
✓ Full API Access - Use gh api to call any GitHub API endpoint
✓ Works Everywhere - Windows, Mac, Linux. Install via brew, apt, winget, or download

Common Workflows

Workflow	Commands
Feature Branch PR	`git checkout -b feature` → `git push -u origin` → `gh pr create`
Review & Merge	`gh pr checkout 42` → `gh pr diff` → `gh pr review --approve` → `gh pr merge`
Bug Fix Workflow	`gh issue view 23` → fix code → `gh pr create` → `gh issue close 23`
Release Automation	`gh release create v1.0.0 --generate-notes`
Clone & Fork	`gh repo clone owner/repo` or `gh repo fork --clone`

Cheatsheet

Quick reference for the most useful gh commands:

Task	Command
Create PR	`gh pr create`
List open PRs	`gh pr list`
Checkout PR	`gh pr checkout <number>`
Merge PR	`gh pr merge --squash`
Create issue	`gh issue create`
View workflow runs	`gh run list`
Watch CI live	`gh run watch`
Clone repo	`gh repo clone owner/repo`
Create release	`gh release create v1.0.0`
Call any API	`gh api /repos/:owner/:repo`

Pro Tips

🔗

Create Aliases for Common Commands

Use gh alias set to create shortcuts: gh alias set prc "pr create --web". Now gh prc creates a PR and opens it in browser.

🎯

Use gh api for Anything

Access any GitHub API: gh api /repos/:owner/:repo/contributors. Combine with jq for powerful queries: gh api /repos/:owner/:repo | jq '.stargazers_count'

📦

Extensions Ecosystem

Extend gh with community extensions: gh extension install dlvhdr/gh-dash for a beautiful PR dashboard. Browse at gh extension browse.

📄

Auto-Generate Release Notes

Use gh release create v1.0.0 --generate-notes to auto-generate changelog from merged PRs since last release. Saves hours of manual documentation.

🔧

Git + gh Power Combo

Chain git and gh: git push -u origin HEAD && gh pr create. Push and create PR in one command. Add to a git alias for maximum efficiency.

Getting Started

1

Install GitHub CLI

macOS: brew install gh | Windows: winget install GitHub.cli | Linux: apt install gh
2

Authenticate with GitHub

Run gh auth login and follow the prompts. Choose HTTPS or SSH, and authenticate via browser.
3

Try Your First Command

In any git repo, run gh pr list to see open PRs or gh issue list for issues.
4

Explore with --help

Every command has great help: gh pr --help, gh issue create --help. Tab completion works too!

Get GitHub CLI

Stop switching between terminal and browser. Bring GitHub into your command line workflow.

Install GitHub CLI

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