How to Use GitHub CLI: Basic Commands and Examples

Use the gh command followed by an action like repo, issue, or pr to interact with GitHub from your terminal. For example, gh repo clone owner/repo clones a repository, and gh pr create starts a pull request.

Syntax

The basic syntax of GitHub CLI commands is gh [command] [subcommand] [flags]. Here:

• gh: The GitHub CLI tool.
• command: The main action like repo, issue, or pr.
• subcommand: Specific operation under the command, such as clone, list, or create.
• flags: Optional settings to customize the command behavior.

bash

gh [command] [subcommand] [flags]

Example

This example shows how to clone a repository, create a new issue, and open a pull request using GitHub CLI.

bash

gh repo clone cli/cli
cd cli
# Create a new issue
gh issue create --title "Bug found" --body "There is a bug in the CLI tool."
# Create a pull request
gh pr create --title "Fix bug" --body "This PR fixes the bug." --base main --head fix-branch

Output

Cloning into 'cli'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 1000, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (1000/1000), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (800/800), done.
remote: Total 1000 (delta 200), reused 900 (delta 150), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (1000/1000), 2.5 MiB | 1.2 MiB/s, done.
Creating issue in cli/cli
Issue created: https://github.com/cli/cli/issues/1234
Creating pull request
Pull request created: https://github.com/cli/cli/pull/5678

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes when using GitHub CLI include:

• Not authenticating with gh auth login before running commands that require permissions.
• Using incorrect repository names or missing owner names in commands.
• Forgetting to specify the base and head branches when creating pull requests.

Always check your current authentication status with gh auth status.

bash

gh pr create --title "Fix bug"
# Error: authentication required

# Correct way:
gh auth login
gh pr create --title "Fix bug" --base main --head fix-branch

Output

Error: authentication required

# After login
Creating pull request
Pull request created: https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/1

Quick Reference

Command	Description
gh auth login	Authenticate your GitHub account
gh repo clone owner/repo	Clone a GitHub repository
gh issue create --title