/github

name: github
description: "GitHub operations via `gh` CLI: issues, PRs, CI runs, code review, API queries. Use when: (1) checking PR status or CI, (2) creating/commenting on issues, (3) listing/filtering PRs or issues, (4) viewing run logs. NOT for: complex web UI interactions requiring manual browser flows (use browser tooling when available), bulk operations across many repos (script with gh api), or when gh auth is not configured."
metadata:
  {
    "velaclaw":
      {
        "emoji": "🐙",
        "requires": { "bins": ["gh"] },
        "install":
          [
            {
              "id": "brew",
              "kind": "brew",
              "formula": "gh",
              "bins": ["gh"],
              "label": "Install GitHub CLI (brew)",
            },
            {
              "id": "apt",
              "kind": "apt",
              "package": "gh",
              "bins": ["gh"],
              "label": "Install GitHub CLI (apt)",
            },
          ],
      },
  }

GitHub Skill

Use the `gh` CLI to interact with GitHub repositories, issues, PRs, and CI.

When to Use

✅ **USE this skill when:**

• Checking PR status, reviews, or merge readiness
• Viewing CI/workflow run status and logs
• Creating, closing, or commenting on issues
• Creating or merging pull requests
• Querying GitHub API for repository data
• Listing repos, releases, or collaborators

When NOT to Use

❌ **DON'T use this skill when:**

• Local git operations (commit, push, pull, branch) → use `git` directly
• Non-GitHub repos (GitLab, Bitbucket, self-hosted) → different CLIs
• Cloning repositories → use `git clone`
• Reviewing actual code changes → use `coding-agent` skill
• Complex multi-file diffs → use `coding-agent` or read files directly

Setup

# Authenticate (one-time)
gh auth login

# Verify
gh auth status

Common Commands

Pull Requests

# List PRs
gh pr list --repo owner/repo

# Check CI status
gh pr checks 55 --repo owner/repo

# View PR details
gh pr view 55 --repo owner/repo

# Create PR
gh pr create --title "feat: add feature" --body "Description"

# Merge PR
gh pr merge 55 --squash --repo owner/repo

Issues

# List issues
gh issue list --repo owner/repo --state open

# Create issue
gh issue create --title "Bug: something broken" --body "Details..."

# Close issue
gh issue close 42 --repo owner/repo

CI/Workflow Runs

# List recent runs
gh run list --repo owner/repo --limit 10

# View specific run
gh run view <run-id> --repo owner/repo

# View failed step logs only
gh run view <run-id> --repo owner/repo --log-failed

# Re-run failed jobs
gh run rerun <run-id> --failed --repo owner/repo

API Queries

# Get PR with specific fields
gh api repos/owner/repo/pulls/55 --jq '.title, .state, .user.login'

# List all labels
gh api repos/owner/repo/labels --jq '.[].name'

# Get repo stats
gh api repos/owner/repo --jq '{stars: .stargazers_count, forks: .forks_count}'

JSON Output

Most commands support `--json` for structured output with `--jq` filtering:

gh issue list --repo owner/repo --json number,title --jq '.[] | "\(.number): \(.title)"'
gh pr list --json number,title,state,mergeable --jq '.[] | select(.mergeable == "MERGEABLE")'

Templates

PR Review Summary

# Get PR overview for review
PR=55 REPO=owner/repo
echo "## PR #$PR Summary"
gh pr view $PR --repo $REPO --json title,body,author,additions,deletions,changedFiles \
  --jq '"**\(.title)** by @\(.author.login)\n\n\(.body)\n\n📊 +\(.additions) -\(.deletions) across \(.changedFiles) files"'
gh pr checks $PR --repo $REPO

Issue Triage

# Quick issue triage view
gh issue list --repo owner/repo --state open --json number,title,labels,createdAt \
  --jq '.[] | "[\(.number)] \(.title) - \([.labels[].name] | join(", ")) (\(.createdAt[:10]))"'

Notes

• Always specify `--repo owner/repo` when not in a git directory
• Use URLs directly: `gh pr view https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/55`
• Rate limits apply; use `gh api --cache 1h` for repeated queries