Skill

github

Name: github
Author: NVIDIA

interact with GitHub via REST API

Published by NVIDIA Updated Jul 14

Covers GitHub CLI REST API Engineering

Description

Interact with GitHub using the gh CLI restricted to REST API only (no GraphQL). Use when the user wants to work with GitHub issues, pull requests, repos, releases, or Actions — especially in sandboxed environments where the GraphQL endpoint may be blocked. Trigger keywords - github, gh, pull request, PR, github issue, github actions, workflow, release, gh api.

SKILL.md

Always prefer using the github cli. do not use git for any operations except cloning.

GitHub via REST API

Work with GitHub using gh api and REST-only subcommands. Many gh subcommands (gh pr list, gh issue list, gh issue view, gh pr view, etc.) use GraphQL internally and will fail if the sandbox blocks api.github.com/graphql. Always prefer gh api hitting REST endpoints.

Shell Permissions

Use required_permissions: ["full_network"] for all gh commands (they need to reach api.github.com).

Key Constraint

Endpoint	Status
`api.github.com/graphql`	Blocked in sandbox
`api.github.com/repos/...` (REST)	Allowed

Rule: Never use gh subcommands that call GraphQL. When in doubt, use gh api with an explicit REST path.

Commands known to use GraphQL (avoid these)

gh pr list, gh pr view, gh pr status, gh pr checks
gh issue list, gh issue view, gh issue status
gh project (all subcommands)
gh search (all subcommands)
gh label list

Commands that are REST-safe

gh api <REST-path> — always REST when given a path (not graphql)
gh pr create — uses REST
gh pr merge — uses REST
gh release * — uses REST
gh run * — uses REST
gh workflow * — uses REST
gh auth status — local/REST
gh repo clone / gh repo view --json — may use GraphQL; prefer gh api

Authentication Check

gh auth status

If not authenticated, instruct the user to run gh auth login.

Repositories

Get repo info

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}

List repos for a user or org

gh api "users/{username}/repos?per_page=30&sort=updated"
gh api "orgs/{org}/repos?per_page=30&sort=updated"

Issues

List issues

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues?state=open&per_page=30" \
  | jq '.[] | {number, title, state, user: .user.login, labels: [.labels[].name]}'

Filter options (query params): state (open/closed/all), labels (comma-separated), assignee, creator, milestone, sort (created/updated/comments), direction (asc/desc), since (ISO 8601), per_page, page.

Get a single issue

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}

Create an issue

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues \
  -f title="Issue title" \
  -f body="Issue description" \
  -f "labels[]=bug" \
  -f "assignees[]={username}"

Comment on an issue

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments \
  -f body="Comment text"

Close an issue

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number} -X PATCH -f state=closed

Reopen an issue

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number} -X PATCH -f state=open

Add labels

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/labels \
  -f "labels[]=bug" -f "labels[]=priority-high"

Pull Requests

List PRs

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls?state=open&per_page=30" \
  | jq '.[] | {number, title, state, user: .user.login, head: .head.ref, base: .base.ref}'

Filter options: state (open/closed/all), head (filter by head user/org and branch: user:ref-name), base (filter by base branch), sort (created/updated/popularity/long-running), direction, per_page, page.

Get a single PR

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number} \
  | jq '{number, title, state, body, user: .user.login, head: .head.ref, base: .base.ref, mergeable: .mergeable, merged: .merged}'

Get PR diff

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number} \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.diff"

Get PR files changed

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/files?per_page=100" \
  | jq '.[] | {filename, status, additions, deletions, changes}'

Create a PR (REST-safe alternative)

gh pr create is REST-safe and the easiest way:

gh pr create --title "PR title" --body "PR description" --base main --head feature-branch

Or via gh api:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls \
  -f title="PR title" \
  -f body="PR description" \
  -f head="feature-branch" \
  -f base="main"

Merge a PR

gh pr merge {number} --squash  # REST-safe

Or via gh api:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/merge \
  -X PUT -f merge_method=squash

Request reviewers

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/requested_reviewers \
  -f "reviewers[]={username}"

List PR reviews

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/reviews" \
  | jq '.[] | {user: .user.login, state, body}'

List PR review comments

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/comments" \
  | jq '.[] | {user: .user.login, path, body, line}'

Comment on a PR

PRs use the issues comments endpoint:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments \
  -f body="Comment text"

Commits & Branches

List branches

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches?per_page=30" \
  | jq '.[].name'

Get a commit

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits/{sha} \
  | jq '{sha, message: .commit.message, author: .commit.author.name, date: .commit.author.date}'

Compare two refs

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/compare/{base}...{head}" \
  | jq '{ahead_by, behind_by, total_commits, files: [.files[] | {filename, status, additions, deletions}]}'

List commits on a branch

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits?sha={branch}&per_page=20" \
  | jq '.[] | {sha: .sha[:8], message: (.commit.message | split("\n")[0]), date: .commit.author.date}'

GitHub Actions

List workflow runs

gh run list --limit 10  # REST-safe

Or via gh api:

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs?per_page=10" \
  | jq '.workflow_runs[] | {id, name, status, conclusion, head_branch, created_at}'

Get a specific run

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id} \
  | jq '{id, name, status, conclusion, head_branch, html_url}'

List jobs for a run

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id}/jobs" \
  | jq '.jobs[] | {id, name, status, conclusion, started_at, completed_at}'

Download job logs

gh run view {run_id} --log  # REST-safe

Re-run a workflow

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id}/rerun -X POST

Re-run failed jobs only

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/runs/{run_id}/rerun-failed-jobs -X POST

List workflows

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows" \
  | jq '.workflows[] | {id, name, state, path}'

Trigger a workflow dispatch

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/{workflow_id}/dispatches \
  -f ref=main -f "inputs[key]=value"

Releases

List releases

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases?per_page=10" \
  | jq '.[] | {tag_name, name, draft, prerelease, published_at}'

Get latest release

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/latest \
  | jq '{tag_name, name, body, published_at, assets: [.assets[] | {name, download_count, browser_download_url}]}'

Create a release

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases \
  -f tag_name="v1.0.0" \
  -f name="Release v1.0.0" \
  -f body="Release notes here" \
  -F draft=false \
  -F prerelease=false

Check Runs & Statuses (CI)

List check runs for a ref

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits/{ref}/check-runs" \
  | jq '.check_runs[] | {name, status, conclusion, html_url}'

Get combined status for a ref

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits/{ref}/status" \
  | jq '{state, total_count, statuses: [.statuses[] | {context, state, description}]}'

Pagination

GitHub REST API returns at most 100 items per page. Use per_page and page query params:

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues?state=all&per_page=100&page=1"
gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues?state=all&per_page=100&page=2"

Or use --paginate to auto-follow Link headers (returns all pages concatenated):

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues?state=all&per_page=100" --paginate \
  | jq '.[] | {number, title}'

Resolving Owner/Repo

If the user doesn't specify a repo, infer from the current git remote:

gh api repos/:owner/:repo

gh api resolves :owner and :repo from the current git remote automatically.

Error Handling

401 Unauthorized — run gh auth status; may need gh auth login
403 Forbidden — rate limit or insufficient permissions; check gh api rate_limit
404 Not Found — wrong owner/repo/number or private repo without access
422 Unprocessable — invalid payload; check field names and types
Network error / timeout — if you see connection refused on the graphql endpoint, you're hitting the sandbox restriction; switch to a REST endpoint

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