---

name: github-cli description: Wrapper for GitHub CLI (gh) in Claude.ai. Covers installation, authentication, and common operations like pushing files, creating branches, PRs, issues, and releases.

GitHub CLI Skill

Use the official GitHub CLI (gh) in Claude.ai for repository operations.

Setup

1. Install (once per session)

Copyapt-get update && apt-get install -y gh

2. Claude.ai Network Allowlist

Add api.github.com to your project's allowed domains:

1. Go to your Claude Project settings
2. Find Network/Egress settings
3. Add api.github.com
4. Start a new chat (network settings load at conversation start)

3. Authentication

Set your GitHub PAT as an environment variable:

Copyexport GH_TOKEN="github_pat_xxxx"

Create a fine-grained PAT at: https://github.com/settings/tokens?type=beta

Verify auth:

Copygh auth status

Common Operations

Repository

Copy# View repo info
gh repo view owner/repo

# Create new repo
gh repo create owner/repo --private --description "My project"

# Clone repo
gh repo clone owner/repo

# List your repos
gh repo list

Files & Commits

Copy# Push a single file (create or update)
CONTENT=$(base64 -w 0 myfile.txt)
gh api -X PUT repos/owner/repo/contents/path/to/file.txt \
    -f message="Add file" \
    -f content="$CONTENT" \
    -f branch="main"

# Update existing file (need SHA)
SHA=$(gh api repos/owner/repo/contents/path/to/file.txt --jq '.sha')
gh api -X PUT repos/owner/repo/contents/path/to/file.txt \
    -f message="Update file" \
    -f content="$CONTENT" \
    -f sha="$SHA" \
    -f branch="main"

# Delete a file
SHA=$(gh api repos/owner/repo/contents/path/to/file.txt --jq '.sha')
gh api -X DELETE repos/owner/repo/contents/path/to/file.txt \
    -f message="Delete file" \
    -f sha="$SHA" \
    -f branch="main"

# List files in a directory
gh api repos/owner/repo/contents/path/to/dir

Branches

Copy# List branches
gh api repos/owner/repo/branches --jq '.[].name'

# Create branch from main
SHA=$(gh api repos/owner/repo/git/refs/heads/main --jq '.object.sha')
gh api -X POST repos/owner/repo/git/refs \
    -f ref="refs/heads/feature/new-branch" \
    -f sha="$SHA"

# Delete branch
gh api -X DELETE repos/owner/repo/git/refs/heads/feature/old-branch

Pull Requests

Copy# Create PR (from cloned repo)
gh pr create --title "My PR" --body "Description" --base main --head feature-branch

# Create PR via API (without clone)
gh api -X POST repos/owner/repo/pulls \
    -f title="My PR" \
    -f body="Description" \
    -f head="feature-branch" \
    -f base="main"

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

# View PR
gh pr view 123 --repo owner/repo

# Merge PR
gh pr merge 123 --repo owner/repo --squash

Issues

Copy# Create issue
gh issue create --repo owner/repo --title "Bug" --body "Description"

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

# Close issue
gh issue close 123 --repo owner/repo

Releases

Copy# Create release
gh release create v1.0.0 --repo owner/repo --title "v1.0.0" --notes "Release notes"

# Create release with files
gh release create v1.0.0 ./dist/*.zip --repo owner/repo

# List releases
gh release list --repo owner/repo

Actions / Workflows

Copy# List workflow runs
gh run list --repo owner/repo

# View run details
gh run view 12345 --repo owner/repo

# Trigger workflow
gh workflow run build.yml --repo owner/repo

Required Permissions

Fine-grained PAT

Classic PAT

Use repo scope for full access, or specific scopes as needed.

Tips

Use --jq for JSON parsing

Copygh api repos/owner/repo --jq '.default_branch'
gh api repos/owner/repo/branches --jq '.[].name'

Batch operations with xargs

Copy# Delete multiple branches
echo -e "old-branch-1\nold-branch-2" | xargs -I {} gh api -X DELETE repos/owner/repo/git/refs/heads/{}

Check rate limits

Copygh api rate_limit --jq '.resources.core'

References

• GitHub CLI Manual
• GitHub REST API
• gh api command