GitHub CLI (gh) — GitHub Official Command Line Tool

What gh Does

• Repos — create, clone, fork, view, archive
• Pull requests — create, checkout, review, merge
• Issues — create, close, comment, assign, label
• Actions — list runs, view logs, rerun, watch
• Releases — create, upload assets, generate notes
• Gists — create, list, view
• API passthrough — gh api for any REST/GraphQL endpoint
• Extensions — install community extensions (gh extension install)
• Codespaces — create, list, ssh into Codespaces
• Copilot integration — gh copilot explain / gh copilot suggest

Architecture

Go CLI that hits the GitHub REST + GraphQL APIs. Auth stored via OAuth device flow in keyring. Commands are composable (--json fields | jq). Extensions add new subcommands by installing binaries or scripts into ~/.local/share/gh/extensions.

Self-Hosting

CLI tool. Authenticates to github.com or your GHES instance.

Key Features

• Full PR workflow
• Issue management
• Actions monitoring and rerun
• Release management
• Gist creation
• GraphQL API passthrough
• Extension system
• Copilot CLI integration
• Cross-platform
• JSON output for scripting

Comparison

FAQ

Q: What's the difference between hub and gh? A: hub is the older third-party CLI; gh is the official GitHub tool (2020+) with more features and a better experience. hub no longer gets new features.

Q: Can it be scripted? A: Yes. gh pr list --json title,url --jq .[].url outputs JSON; paired with jq, it's easy to script CI tasks.

Q: Can I call the API directly? A: Yes. gh api /repos/owner/repo/issues hits any REST endpoint; gh api graphql -f query=... runs GraphQL.

Sources & Credits

• Docs: https://cli.github.com/manual
• GitHub: https://github.com/cli/cli
• License: MIT