GitHub CLI Operations

Use GitHub CLI (gh) to interact with GitHub repositories, pull requests, issues, and workflows.

Prerequisites

• GitHub CLI installed: brew install gh (macOS) or see cli.github.com
• Authenticated: gh auth login (one-time setup)
• Repository context: Run commands from within a git repository or specify --repo owner/repo

Quick Start

Get PR details:

gh pr view <pr-number> --json title,body,author,state

Get PR diff:

gh pr diff <pr-number>

Extract Linear issue references:

gh pr view <pr-number> --json body --jq '.body' | grep -oE 'LIN-[0-9]+'

Usage Patterns for PR Review

Get PR Context

Get PR title, description, and metadata:

gh pr view <pr-number> --json title,body,author,state,baseRefName,headRefName

Get changed files:

gh pr view <pr-number> --json files --jq '.files[].path'

Get diff for specific file:

gh pr diff <pr-number> -- path/to/file

Check PR Status

Check CI status:

gh pr checks <pr-number>

Check if PR is mergeable:

gh pr view <pr-number> --json mergeable,mergeStateStatus

Link to Linear Issues

Extract issue references from PR body:

gh pr view <pr-number> --json body --jq '.body' | grep -oE 'LIN-[0-9]+'

Integration with Linear

When reviewing PRs, extract Linear issue references from:

• PR title: Look for LIN-123 or [LIN-123] patterns
• PR body: Search for Linear issue links or IDs
• PR comments: Check for issue mentions

Then use Linear MCP functions to fetch issue details and requirements.

Reference Documentation

• Command Reference: See commands.md for complete GitHub CLI command reference
• GitHub CLI Manual: cli.github.com/manual