Overview

GitHub CLI (gh) is an official command-line tool that brings GitHub functionality directly into your terminal. It lets you manage repositories, issues, pull requests, releases, gists, GitHub Actions workflows, and more without leaving the shell — enabling scripting, automation, and faster developer workflows.

What GitHub CLI Provides

gh wraps the GitHub REST and GraphQL APIs in a developer-friendly command-line interface. It authenticates once via OAuth or a personal access token, then provides a consistent command structure across all GitHub resource types. The tool ships as a single binary with no runtime dependencies and integrates naturally with git and shell scripts.

Key Concepts

• Auth: Authenticate to GitHub.com or GitHub Enterprise Server; manage multiple accounts
• Repos: Clone, create, fork, view, and list repositories from the terminal
• Issues: Create, list, view, edit, close, reopen, and comment on issues
• Pull Requests: Create, review, merge, check out, and monitor pull requests
• Releases: Create, publish, upload assets to, and download from GitHub Releases
• Gists: Create, view, edit, and delete GitHub Gists for sharing code snippets
• Actions: List, view, watch, rerun, and trigger GitHub Actions workflow runs
• Extensions: Install and build community extensions that add new gh subcommands
• API: Call the GitHub REST and GraphQL APIs directly with automatic authentication
• Search: Search repositories, issues, pull requests, code, and commits across GitHub

Content in This Section

• By Example — Learn GitHub CLI through 85 heavily annotated shell examples covering authentication, repositories, issues, pull requests, releases, gists, actions, API calls, extensions, search, and automation patterns.