GhSAFE

GitHub’s official command line tool

The instruction file, verbatim from the audited commit — this is the text the model reads, and the surface the audit's instruction layer examines. Quoted here so you can judge it without cloning anything.

---
name: gh
description: Patterns for invoking the GitHub CLI (gh) from agents. Covers structured output, pagination, repo targeting, search vs list, gh api fallback.
---

# Reference

## Interactivity policy

`gh` already does the right thing in non-TTY contexts: it skips the pager,
strips ANSI color, and errors out fast with a helpful message instead of
prompting (e.g. `must provide --title and --body when not running interactively`).
You don't need to defensively set `GH_PAGER` or pass `--no-pager` (no such
flag exists).

## Parsing JSON

Human output from `gh` is column-formatted. If you want structured data:

- Add `--json field1,field2,...` for structured output.
- For `gh issue view` and `gh pr view`, use `--json ...,comments` to include comments in structured data; use `--comments` only with the human-readable view.
- Run a command with `--json` and **no field list** to print the full set of
  available fields, then pick what you need.
- Use `--jq '<expr>'` for filtering without piping through a separate `jq`.
- Use `--template '<go-template>'` (alongside `--json`) when you want shaped
  text output. Note that `--template`/`-T` collides with a body-template flag
  on a few commands (e.g. `gh pr create -T`, `gh issue create -T`); always
  check `--help` before assuming which one you're hitting.

## Pagination and silent truncation

List commands cap results.

- `gh issue list`, `gh pr list`, `gh search ...`: pass `-L N` (`--limit N`).
  The default is usually 30.
- `gh issue list` / `gh pr list` do not expose aggregate totals like
  `totalCount` via `--json`. If you need a true total, use `gh api graphql`
  to query `totalCount`; otherwise, treat `-L` as the cap for the current call.
- For raw API calls use `gh api --paginate <path>`. Combine with
  `--jq` and (optionally) `--slurp` to assemble one array.

## Repo targeting

`gh` infers the repo from the cwd's git remotes. 

Pass `--repo OWNER/REPO` (`-R`) to override the resolved CWD repo.

## Search vs list

- `gh search issues|prs|code|repos|commits|users` uses GitHub's search
  index and accepts the full search syntax (`is:open`, `author:`,
  `label:`, `repo:owner/name`, `in:title`, ...). Pass each qualifier as
  its own bare token, not as one quoted string:
  `gh search issues repo:cli/cli is:open author:monalisa` works, but
  `gh search issues "repo:cli/cli is:open"` is treated as a single keyword (parsed as `repo:"cli/cli is:open"`)
  and fails with `Invalid search query`. Quote only multi-word free text
  (`gh search issues "broken feature"`). Most qualifiers also have a
  dedicated flag (`--repo`, `--author`, `--label`, ...). Prefer search for
  anything cross-repo or filtered by author/label.
- `gh issue list --search "..."` and `gh pr list --search "..."` take the
  query as one quoted string (it is a flag value) and are scoped to one repo.
- Bots author as GitHub Apps, so `--author dependabot` matches nothing. Use
  `--app dependabot` (on `pr`/`issue list` and `search prs|issues`; expands
  to `author:app/<slug>`) or `--author "dependabot[bot]"`.
- `gh search issues` also takes `--search-type <lexical|semantic|hybrid>`
  (github.com/GHEC only, issues only): use `semantic` when the user describes a
  problem in natural language rather than exact terms, and `hybrid` to blend
  keyword and semantic ranking; `lexical` (default) is exact matching.

## Issue types, sub-issues, and relationships

Newer `gh issue` subcommands model issue types, sub-issue hierarchy, and
blocked-by/blocking relationships.

- `gh issue create`: `--type <name>`, `--parent <number|url>` (creates the
  new issue as a sub-issue), `--blocked-by <number|url,...>`, `--blocking <number|url,...>`.
- `gh issue edit` (edits one or more issues in the same repo, e.g.
  `gh issue edit 23 34`): `--type <name>` / `--remove-type`,
  `--parent <n|url>` / `--remove-parent`,
  `--add-sub-issue <n,n>` / `--remove-sub-issue <n,n>`,
  `--add-blocked-by <n,n>` / `--remove-blocked-by <n,n>`,
  `--add-blocking <n,n>` / `--remove-blocking <n,n>`. Relationship and parent
  refs are issue numbers or URLs; a URL may point to another repo on the same
  host, but a different host is rejected. `--add-sub-issue` cannot be used
  when editing more than one issue.
- `gh issue list --type <name>` filters by issue type.
- `gh issue view` and `gh issue list` accept these as `--json` fields (prefer
  them over scraping the default text output): `issueType`, `parent`,
  `subIssues`, `subIssuesSummary`, `blockedBy`, `blocking`. `subIssues`,
  `blockedBy`, and `blocking` are objects shaped
  `{"nodes": [...], "totalCount": N}` (not flat arrays), and `nodes` is capped
  (`subIssues` at 100, `blockedBy`/`blocking` at 50), so compare the node count
  against `totalCount` to detect truncation.
- GHES: issue types and sub-issues need 3.17+; blocked-by/blocking
  relationships need 3.19+.

## Attaching images and videos

`--attach <path>` is available on `gh issue create`, `gh issue edit`,
`gh issue comment`, `gh pr create`, `gh pr edit`, `gh pr comment`,
`gh issue artifact create`, and `gh issue artifact edit`.

- Repeat `--attach` to upload multiple files:
  `gh issue comment 12 --attach ./before.png --attach ./after.png`.
- Each command invocation accepts at most 50 `--attach` values total across
  images and videos.
- Supported files are `png`, `jpg`, `jpeg`, `gif`, `webp`, `svg`, `mp4`,
  `mov`, and `webm`.
- For an image, append alt text to the path after `#`. Quote the value so the
  shell does not treat `#` as a comment:
  `gh pr create --attach './login.png#The login error state'`. Without alt
  text, the filename is used.
- `--attach` paths and local Markdown destinations may be absolute or relative
  to the directory where `gh` runs. When the body comes from a file with
  `--body-file`, or from a file argument to `gh issue artifact create`,
  relative destinations resolve against that file's directory first, then the
  directory where `gh` runs.
- If the body references an attached 

SAFEgrade B · trust 89/100 Nothing in the source contradicts what it says it does. Grade A is reserved for packages that have also passed the behavioural sandbox.

What the source does

Filesystem

none-observed

Network

none-observed

Shell

none-observed

Dependencies

pinned

Secrets in source

none-found

Findings (0)

No findings outside the package's declared scope.

Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.

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