GitHub Issues Management

Create, search, triage, and manage GitHub issues. Each section shows gh first, then the curl fallback.

Prerequisites

• Authenticated with GitHub (see github-auth skill)
• Inside a git repo with a GitHub remote, or specify the repo explicitly

Setup

if command -v gh &>/dev/null && gh auth status &>/dev/null; then
  AUTH="gh"
else
  AUTH="git"
  if [ -z "$GITHUB_TOKEN" ]; then
    if [ -f $ENV_FILE ] && grep -q "^GITHUB_TOKEN=" $ENV_FILE; then
      GITHUB_TOKEN=$(grep "^GITHUB_TOKEN=" $ENV_FILE | head -1 | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '\n\r')
    elif grep -q "github.com" ~/.git-credentials 2>/dev/null; then
      GITHUB_TOKEN=$(grep "github.com" ~/.git-credentials 2>/dev/null | head -1 | sed 's|https://[^:]:\([^@]\)@.*|\1|')
    fi
  fi
fi
REMOTE_URL=$(git remote get-url origin)
OWNER_REPO=$(echo "$REMOTE_URL" | sed -E 's|.*github\.com[:/]||; s|\.git$||')
OWNER=$(echo "$OWNER_REPO" | cut -d/ -f1)
REPO=$(echo "$OWNER_REPO" | cut -d/ -f2)

1. Viewing Issues

With gh:

gh issue list
gh issue list --state open --label "bug"
gh issue list --assignee @me
gh issue list --search "authentication error" --state all
gh issue view 42

With curl:

# List open issues
curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?state=open&per_page=20" \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin):
    if 'pull_request' not in i:  # GitHub API returns PRs in /issues too
        labels = ', '.join(l['name'] for l in i['labels'])
        print(f\"#{i['number']:5}  {i['state']:6}  {labels:30}  {i['title']}\")"
Filter by label

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?state=open&labels=bug&per_page=20" \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin):
    if 'pull_request' not in i:
        print(f\"#{i['number']}  {i['title']}\")"
View a specific issue

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42 \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
i = json.load(sys.stdin)
labels = ', '.join(l['name'] for l in i['labels'])
assignees = ', '.join(a['login'] for a in i['assignees'])
print(f\"#{i['number']}: {i['title']}\")
print(f\"State: {i['state']}  Labels: {labels}  Assignees: {assignees}\")
print(f\"Author: {i['user']['login']}  Created: {i['created_at']}\")
print(f\"\n{i['body']}\")"
Search issues

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=authentication+error+repo:$OWNER/$REPO" \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin)['items']:
    print(f\"#{i['number']}  {i['state']:6}  {i['title']}\")"

2. Creating Issues

With gh:

gh issue create \
  --title "Login redirect ignores ?next= parameter" \
  --body "## Description
After logging in, users always land on /dashboard.
Steps to Reproduce

Navigate to /settings while logged out
Get redirected to /login?next=/settings
Log in
Actual: redirected to /dashboard (should go to /settings)
Expected Behavior

Respect the ?next= query parameter." \
  --label "bug,backend" \
  --assignee "username"

With curl:

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues \
  -d '{
    "title": "Login redirect ignores ?next= parameter",
    "body": "## Description\nAfter logging in, users always land on /dashboard.\n\n## Steps to Reproduce\n1. Navigate to /settings while logged out\n2. Get redirected to /login?next=/settings\n3. Log in\n4. Actual: redirected to /dashboard\n\n## Expected Behavior\nRespect the ?next= query parameter.",
    "labels": ["bug", "backend"],
    "assignees": ["username"]
  }'

Bug Report Template

## Bug Description
Steps to Reproduce

Expected Behavior

Actual Behavior

Environment

OS: 
Version: 

Feature Request Template

## Feature Description
Motivation

Proposed Solution

Alternatives Considered

3. Managing Issues

Add/Remove Labels

With gh:

gh issue edit 42 --add-label "priority:high,bug"
gh issue edit 42 --remove-label "needs-triage"

With curl:

# Add labels
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42/labels \
  -d '{"labels": ["priority:high", "bug"]}'
Remove a label

curl -s -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42/labels/needs-triage
List available labels in the repo

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/labels \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
for l in json.load(sys.stdin):
    print(f\"  {l['name']:30}  {l.get('description', '')}\")"

Assignment

With gh:

gh issue edit 42 --add-assignee username
gh issue edit 42 --add-assignee @me

With curl:

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42/assignees \
  -d '{"assignees": ["username"]}'

Commenting

With gh:

gh issue comment 42 --body "Investigated — root cause is in auth middleware. Working on a fix."

With curl:

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42/comments \
  -d '{"body": "Investigated — root cause is in auth middleware. Working on a fix."}'

Closing and Reopening

With gh:

gh issue close 42
gh issue close 42 --reason "not planned"
gh issue reopen 42

With curl:

# Close
curl -s -X PATCH \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42 \
  -d '{"state": "closed", "state_reason": "completed"}'
Reopen

curl -s -X PATCH \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/42 \
  -d '{"state": "open"}'

Linking Issues to PRs

Issues are automatically closed when a PR merges with the right keywords in the body:

Closes #42
Fixes #42
Resolves #42

To create a branch from an issue:

With gh:

gh issue develop 42 --checkout

With git (manual equivalent):

git checkout main && git pull origin main
git checkout -b fix/issue-42-login-redirect

4. Issue Triage Workflow

When asked to triage issues:

• List untriaged issues:

# With gh
gh issue list --label "needs-triage" --state open
With curl

curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?labels=needs-triage&state=open" \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
for i in json.load(sys.stdin):
    if 'pull_request' not in i:
        print(f\"#{i['number']}  {i['title']}\")"

• Read and categorize each issue (view details, understand the bug/feature)

• Apply labels and priority (see Managing Issues above)

• Assign if the owner is clear

• Comment with triage notes if needed

5. Bulk Operations

For batch operations, combine API calls with shell scripting:

With gh:

# Close all issues with a specific label
gh issue list --label "wontfix" --json number --jq '.[].number' | \
  xargs -I {} gh issue close {} --reason "not planned"

With curl:

# List issue numbers with a label, then close each
curl -s \
  -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues?labels=wontfix&state=open" \
  | python3 -c "import sys,json; [print(i['number']) for i in json.load(sys.stdin)]" \
  | while read num; do
    curl -s -X PATCH \
      -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
      https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO/issues/$num \
      -d '{"state": "closed", "state_reason": "not_planned"}'
    echo "Closed #$num"
  done

Quick Reference Table

| Action | gh | curl endpoint |
|--------|-----|--------------|
| List issues | gh issue list | GET /repos/{o}/{r}/issues |
| View issue | gh issue view N | GET /repos/{o}/{r}/issues/N |
| Create issue | gh issue create ... | POST /repos/{o}/{r}/issues |
| Add labels | gh issue edit N --add-label ... | POST /repos/{o}/{r}/issues/N/labels |
| Assign | gh issue edit N --add-assignee ... | POST /repos/{o}/{r}/issues/N/assignees |
| Comment | gh issue comment N --body ... | POST /repos/{o}/{r}/issues/N/comments |
| Close | gh issue close N | PATCH /repos/{o}/{r}/issues/N |
| Search | gh issue list --search "..." | GET /search/issues?q=... |