GitHub CLI (gh) Cheat Sheet

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Omar Hosney

🛠️ Installation & Setup

macOS: Install with Homebrewbrew install gh
Windows: Install with wingetwinget install GitHub.cli
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):sudo apt install gh
Authenticate: Login to GitHubgh auth login
Check status: Verify authenticationgh auth status
Logout: End sessiongh auth logout

📁 Repository Commands

Clone repo: Clone a repositorygh repo clone owner/repo
Create repo: Create new repositorygh repo create my-repo --public
Fork repo: Fork a repositorygh repo fork owner/repo
View repo: Open in browsergh repo view --web
List repos: Show your repositoriesgh repo list
Sync fork: Update fork with upstreamgh repo sync owner/repo
Archive repo: Archive a repositorygh repo archive owner/repo

🔀 Pull Request Commands

Create PR: Create pull requestgh pr create --title "Title" --body "Description"
List PRs: Show pull requestsgh pr list
View PR: Show PR detailsgh pr view 123
Checkout PR: Switch to PR branchgh pr checkout 123
Merge PR: Merge pull requestgh pr merge 123 --squash
Close PR: Close without merginggh pr close 123
Review PR: Add a reviewgh pr review 123 --approve
PR diff: View PR changesgh pr diff 123

🐛 Issue Commands

Create issue: Open new issuegh issue create --title "Bug" --body "Details"
List issues: Show issuesgh issue list
View issue: Show issue detailsgh issue view 42
Close issue: Close an issuegh issue close 42
Reopen issue: Reopen closed issuegh issue reopen 42
Edit issue: Modify issuegh issue edit 42 --add-label "bug"
Comment: Add commentgh issue comment 42 --body "Comment"
Transfer: Move to another repogh issue transfer 42 owner/repo

⚡ GitHub Actions

List workflows: Show all workflowsgh workflow list
View workflow: Workflow detailsgh workflow view deploy.yml
Run workflow: Trigger manuallygh workflow run deploy.yml
List runs: Show workflow runsgh run list
View run: Run detailsgh run view 12345
Watch run: Follow livegh run watch 12345
Download artifacts: Get build outputsgh run download 12345
Rerun workflow: Restart failed rungh run rerun 12345

🏷️ Release Commands

Create release: New releasegh release create v1.0.0 --title "v1.0.0"
List releases: Show releasesgh release list
View release: Release detailsgh release view v1.0.0
Download assets: Get release filesgh release download v1.0.0
Delete release: Remove releasegh release delete v1.0.0
Upload assets: Add filesgh release upload v1.0.0 ./dist/*
Draft release: Create as draftgh release create v1.0.0 --draft

🔍 Search Commands

Search repos: Find repositoriesgh search repos "machine learning" --language=python
Search issues: Find issuesgh search issues "bug" --state=open
Search PRs: Find pull requestsgh search prs "feature" --state=merged
Search code: Find code snippetsgh search code "def main" --language=python
Search commits: Find commitsgh search commits "fix bug"

💡 Tip: Use --json flag to get machine-readable output for scripting!

🔑 SSH Key Management

List SSH keys: Show keysgh ssh-key list
Add SSH key: Register new keygh ssh-key add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
Delete SSH key: Remove keygh ssh-key delete 12345

🔐 GPG Key Management

List GPG keys: Show GPG keysgh gpg-key list
Add GPG key: Register keygh gpg-key add key.pub

📊 API & Extensions

API call: Make API requestgh api repos/owner/repo
GraphQL query: GraphQL requestgh api graphql -f query='{ viewer { login } }'
List extensions: Show installedgh extension list
Install extension: Add extensiongh extension install owner/gh-ext
Upgrade extensions: Update allgh extension upgrade --all
Create extension: New extensiongh extension create my-ext

💡 Popular extensions: gh-dash, gh-copilot, gh-markdown-preview

📋 Codespaces

Create codespace: New environmentgh codespace create -r owner/repo
List codespaces: Show allgh codespace list
SSH to codespace: Connect via SSHgh codespace ssh -c codespace-name
Open in VS Code: Launch editorgh codespace code -c codespace-name
Stop codespace: Pausegh codespace stop -c codespace-name
Delete codespace: Removegh codespace delete -c codespace-name
Port forward: Expose portsgh codespace ports forward 8080:8080

⚙️ Configuration

Set editor: Default editorgh config set editor "code --wait"
Set browser: Default browsergh config set browser firefox
Git protocol: Use SSHgh config set git_protocol ssh
View config: Show settingsgh config list
Set prompt: Disable promptsgh config set prompt disabled

🎨 Aliases

Create alias: Custom shortcutgh alias set pv 'pr view'
List aliases: Show allgh alias list
Delete alias: Remove shortcutgh alias delete pv

🌟 Pro Tips

Interactive mode: Guided creationgh pr create # prompts for details
JSON output: For scriptinggh pr list --json number,title
JQ filtering: Process JSONgh pr list --json title --jq '.[].title'
Template: Use PR templategh pr create --template
Web flag: Open in browsergh issue view 42 --web
Assignees: Assign yourselfgh pr create --assignee @me
Labels: Add labelsgh issue create --label "bug,urgent"
Reviewers: Request reviewgh pr create --reviewer user1,user2