$devvkit learn --librarie gh-—-github-cli-guide

gh — GitHub CLI Guide

[github][cli][git][collaboration][open-source]

Open Source

Install

# macOS
brew install gh
# Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
(type -p curl >/dev/null || sudo apt install curl -y) && curl -fsSL https://cli.github.com/packages/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg | sudo dd of=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg && sudo chmod go+r /usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg && echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg] https://cli.github.com/packages stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/github-cli.list > /dev/null && sudo apt update && sudo apt install gh -y
# Windows (winget)
winget install --id GitHub.cli
# Verify
gh --version

gh is GitHub's official CLI, bringing the entire GitHub workflow to your terminal. Fork repos, create PRs, review code, run CI checks, manage issues, and create releases — all without opening a browser. It integrates with git so your existing workflows remain untouched.

Authentication is one command: `gh auth login`. It supports OAuth, SSH keys, and personal access tokens. Once authenticated, every command works against your account. Use `gh auth status` to verify, and `gh auth logout` to switch accounts.

The killer feature is PR management from the terminal. `gh pr create` with `--fill` auto-generates the title and body from your commits. `gh pr checkout` fetches and checks out any PR locally. `gh pr review` submits reviews with comments, approve, or request-changes — all inline in your terminal. For open source, `gh pr create --web` opens the browser pre-filled, which many contributors prefer for first-time PRs.

Auth & Setup

Authentication— Log in to GitHub.

# Interactive login (OAuth via browser):
gh auth login

# Token-based login (for CI/headless):
gh auth login --with-token < ~/my-token.txt

# Verify auth status:
gh auth status

# Switch accounts:
gh auth logout
gh auth login

Configure defaults— Set git and gh preferences.

# Set default git protocol:
gh config set git_protocol ssh

# Set default editor:
gh config set editor code --wait

# Set pager:
gh config set pager "delta"

# Preferred host:
gh config set host github.com

# View all config:
gh config list

Repository Ops

Fork a repository— Create your own copy of a repo.

# Fork a repo:
gh repo fork owner/repo

# Fork and clone in one step:
gh repo fork owner/repo --clone

# Fork to your account and add as remote:
gh repo fork owner/repo --remote

# Rename default remote name:
gh repo fork owner/repo --remote-name upstream

Create and clone repos— New repos from scratch.

# Create a new repo from current dir:
gh repo create my-project --public --source=. --remote=origin --push

# Create with template:
gh repo create --template owner/template-repo --public

# Clone a repo:
gh repo clone owner/repo

# List your repos:
gh repo list --limit 30

# View a repo:
gh repo view owner/repo --web

Pull Requests

Create a pull request— Open a PR from the terminal.

# Basic PR (auto-fill from commits):
gh pr create --fill

# PR with custom title and body:
gh pr create --title "fix: resolve login redirect loop" --body "Closes #42. Adds redirect validation to prevent infinite loops when session expires."

# PR with draft status:
gh pr create --draft --fill

# Assign reviewers:
gh pr create --fill --reviewer @team/maintainers

# Open in browser to complete:
gh pr create --web

List and checkout PRs— Browse and switch to PRs.

# List open PRs:
gh pr list

# List with status:
gh pr list --state all --limit 50

# List PRs authored by you:
gh pr list --author @me

# List PRs needing your review:
gh pr list --review-requested @me

# Checkout a PR locally:
gh pr checkout 123

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

# Show PR diff:
gh pr diff 123

Merge and close PRs— Finish the PR lifecycle.

# Merge with merge commit:
gh pr merge 123

# Squash and merge:
gh pr merge 123 --squash

# Rebase and merge:
gh pr merge 123 --rebase

# Merge and delete branch:
gh pr merge 123 --delete-branch

# Close without merging:
gh pr close 123

# Reopen:
gh pr reopen 123

Issues & Discussions

Manage issues— Create and triage issues.

# Create an issue:
gh issue create --title "Add input validation" --body "Users can submit empty forms. Add validation on the client and server side."

# List issues:
gh issue list --limit 50

# List issues by label:
gh issue list --label "good first issue"

# View issue:
gh issue view 42

# Close issue:
gh issue close 42 --comment "Fixed in PR #123"

# Reopen:
gh issue reopen 42

CI & Checks

CI and checks— Monitor GitHub Actions.

# List workflow runs:
gh run list --limit 10

# View a specific run:
gh run view 1234

# Watch a run in real-time:
gh run watch 1234

# Rerun a failed run:
gh run rerun 1234

# Download artifacts:
gh run download 1234

# View run logs:
gh run view 1234 --log

Reviews

Submit PR reviews— Review code from terminal.

# Add a comment:
gh pr review 123 --comment --body "Nice work! Consider handling the empty state."

# Approve:
gh pr review 123 --approve

# Request changes:
gh pr review 123 --request-changes --body "This needs a test for the edge case."

# Review specific files (opens $EDITOR):
gh pr review 123 --comment

Gists & Releases

Gists and releases— Share code and ship releases.

# Create a gist:
gh gist create file.ts

# Create public gist with description:
gh gist create --public --desc "Custom React hook for debounce" src/hooks/useDebounce.ts

# List gists:
gh gist list

# Create a release:
gh release create v1.2.0 --title "v1.2.0" --notes "Bug fixes and performance improvements"

# Upload assets:
gh release create v2.0.0 ./dist/app.zip --title "v2.0.0"

Search & Browse

Search everything— Search repos, issues, PRs, code.

# Search repositories:
gh search repos "topic:hacktoberfest language:typescript"

# Search issues:
gh search issues "label:\"good first issue\" state:open"

# Search PRs:
gh search prs --author @me --state open

# Search across GitHub:
gh search -- "todo in:file language:python"

# Browse in browser:
gh browse  # open current repo
gh browse --issues
gh browse --pull-requests
gh browse --settings

Tips

Open source workflow— Complete open source contribution flow with gh.

# Full OSS contribution workflow:

# 1. Find a good first issue:
gh search issues --repo=owner/project --label="good first issue" --limit=10

# 2. Fork and clone:
gh repo fork owner/project --clone
cd project

# 3. Create a branch:
git switch -c fix/issue-42

# 4. Make changes and commit

# 5. Push and create PR:
git push -u origin fix/issue-42
gh pr create --fill --label "bug"

# 6. Open in browser to verify:
gh pr view --web

# 7. After merge, clean up:
git switch main
git pull upstream main
git branch -d fix/issue-42

Useful aliases— Speed up common gh commands.

# Add to ~/.gitconfig or ~/.bashrc/zshrc:

# Quick PR create:
alias pr="gh pr create --fill"

# Quick PR checkout:
alias prco="gh pr checkout"

# View CI status:
alias ci="gh run list --limit 5"

# Quick issue create:
alias issue="gh issue create"

# Fork + clone shortcut:
alias fork="gh repo fork --clone"

# Alias in gh itself:
gh alias set prc "pr create --fill"
gh alias set prco "pr checkout"
gh alias set prl "pr list"