GitHub CLI

gh is GitHub's official CLI for working with repositories, pull requests, issues, releases, Actions, and search from the shell. It also includes gh api for direct REST and GraphQL calls when the built-in subcommands do not cover a workflow cleanly.

• Create, review, merge, check out, and inspect pull requests; create, edit, comment on, and close issues without leaving the terminal.
• Create or inspect repositories, releases, secrets, variables, projects, gists, and workflow runs, including reruns, cancellations, and artifact downloads.
• Search across GitHub and send authenticated REST or GraphQL requests with gh api for repo-specific automation or gaps in higher-level commands.

• Repo-aware defaults and a broad noun-verb command surface make common GitHub tasks easy to compose in shell scripts and agent loops.
• Real structured output is available across many commands via --json, --jq, and --template, and gh api can return raw API JSON when there is no dedicated subcommand.
• Headless automation works best with tokens and explicit flags; browser login, confirmation prompts, and --web or watch-style commands are less suitable for unattended runs.

• JSON coverage is broad but not universal, so some workflows still fall back to gh api or plain-text parsing.
• Authentication needs to be set up first; gh auth login defaults to browser-based flow, while CI or headless usage should rely on tokens in environment variables.