GitHub CLI: gives wings to terminal

When working with git, youre obviously aware that you need to switch to the web browser to perform various actions on the GitHub repo - Pull Request, Issues, Review... The GitHub CLI tool gives wings to the cmd-line, so you can execute many of these actions without leaving the cmd-line.

Setup

To get started, visit the installation page and find instructions on how to install GitHub CLI for your preferred OS. The easy-peasy way for Windows users is to use scoop package manager.

Below are snapshots of install instructions for each supported platform:

• Windows:

• macOS:

• Debian/Ubuntu Linux:

Authenticate GitHub CLI

Authenticate CLI to access your GitHub account.

gh auth login

Select Login with a Web browser

$ gh auth login? What account do you want to log into? GitHub.com? What is your preferred protocol for Git operations? HTTPS? Authenticate Git with your GitHub credentials? Yes? How would you like to authenticate GitHub CLI? Login with a web browser! First copy your one-time code: 1DD9-7BD3Press Enter to open github.com in your browser...  Authentication complete.- gh config set -h github.com git_protocol https Configured git protocol Logged in as pvishnuprasaath

GitHub CLI Command Struct

gh command is structured like a tree for grabbing easily. There are basically two levels of commands. The first level consists of the below commands:

• auth

• browse

• issue

• pr

• release

• repo

• codespace

• gist

Each command has a second level of command where you specify the operation to perform such as gh pr create or gh repo view.

Let's dive deep into the most commonly used commands.

GitHub Repo Command

Cloning a repo with the gh command is easier than using the git command. You no longer need to type or copy-paste the long Git URL to clone

gh repo clone OWNER/REPOgh repo clone mui/material-ui

You can also fork existing repositories to your account easily from the command line.

gh repo fork cli/cli

To view the description and README of a project hosted on GitHub use the gh repo view command.

gh repo view facebook/react

Let's create a new GitHub repository from the command line. First, we need to create a new project.

$ npx create-next-app sample-app$ cd sample-app

To create a repo from the command line, just run the following:

$ gh repo create --public Created repository pvishnuprasaath/sample-app on GitHub Added remote https://github.com/pvishnuprasaath/sample-app.git# Push your project code to your new remote repository$ git push -u origin main

Pull Request Command

If you know classic git flow , creating PR is quite an effort. GitHub CLI makes it easy to create PR directly from your terminal. After a git commit, you can execute gh pr create. It will prompt a couple of inputs. Post that, the PR link is displayed in the terminal.

Heres the full output:

$ gh pr createCreating pull request for feature-1 into master in pvishnuprasaath/sample-app? Title Added new feature? Body Implemented and testted new feature for ABC? What is next? SubmitEnumerating objects: 6, done.Counting objects: 100% (6/6), done.Delta compression using up to 8 threadsCompressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 328 bytes | 328.00 KiB/s, done.Total 4 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (2/2), completed with 2 local objects.remote:remote: Create a pull request for 'feature-1' on GitHub by visiting:remote: https://github.com/pvishnuprasaath/sample-app/pull/new/feature-1remote:To https://github.com/pvishnuprasaath/sample-app.git* [new branch] HEAD -> feature-1Branch 'feature-1' set up to trackremote branch 'feature-1' from 'origin'.https://github.com/pvishnuprasaath/sample-app/pull/3

A short version:

gh pr create --title "PR title" --body "PR body"

To view all the pull requests in the current repo, run gh pr list

$ gh pr listShowing 1 of 1 pull request in pvishnuprasaath/sample-app#3 Added new feature feature-1

Use the command gh pr checkout <number> to checkout a PR. This command will pull the remote feature branch and switch to it. gh pr diff will show the delta for the current PR.

Lets take a look at the gh pr merge command. As youre probably aware, GitHub checks for vulnerabilities in your code and provides solutions via bump pull requests. Heres an example:

Merging multiple PRs one by one is a tiring process. gh pr merge makes it easy to merge a particular PR directly from the terminal.

$ gh pr merge 4? What merge method would you like to use? Create a merge commitremote: Counting objects: 100% (1/1), done.remote: Counting objects: 100% (1/1), done.remote: Total 1 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0        Unpacking objects: 100% (1/1), 624 bytes | 89.00 KiB/s, done.       From https://github.com/pvishnuprasaath/sample-app    * branch main -> FETCH_HEAD   09f8c52..7a8a3f2 main -> origin/mainUpdating 09f8c52..7a8a3f2Fast-forward src/data/data.ts | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) Deleted branch FixLink and switched to branch main

Additional gh pr commands

• gh pr view: displays the title, body, and other information about a pull request.

• gh pr status: show the status of relevant pull requests.

• gh pr ready: make a pull request as ready for review.

• gh pr review: add a review to a pull request.

• gh pr close: close a pull request.

• gh pr reopen: reopen a pull request.

By now, there isn't a way to revert PR from the GitHub CLI yet :(

Issue Command

Issues are used to keep track of bugs, tasks and feature requests associated with a GitHub project repo. The command gh issue create is used to create a new issue via the terminal:

$ gh issue createCreating issue in pvishnuprasaath/sample-app? Title Fix Docker skill link? Title Fix Docker skill link? Body <Received>? What's next? Submithttps://github.com/pvishnuprasaath/sample-app/issues/6

gh issue list command lists all issues in the current repo.

The rest of gh issue commands are quite similar to gh pr commands. Below is a quick summary:

• gh issue view: displays the title, body, and other information about an issue.

• gh issue status: show the status of relevant issues.

• gh issue close: close an issue.

• gh issue reopen: reopen an issue.

GitHub CLI Cheat Sheet

Creating, deleting and configuring repo

gh repo creategh repo create <name_of_repo> --publicgh repo create my-project --private --source=. --remote=upstreamgh repo edit --visibility <visibility-string>gh repo syncgh repo create --disable-issues=true --publicgh repo listgh repo delete <name_of_repo>gh repo clone <name_of_repo>gh repo fork <name_of_repo>

To easily save a piece of code online use Gist:

Creating a gist

touch index.js // after create content for itgh gist create index.js --publicgh gist create -gh gist edit <gist_id> gh gist list --public gh gist list --secret

Handling issues

gh issue creategh issue listgh issue statusgit issue close <#number_issue>gh list -A "<name_issue>"

Handling Pull requests

gh pr create gh pr checkout <name>gh pr diff <#number_of_pr>gh review -c -b "nice work"gh pr close <#number_of_pr> -dgh pr reopen <#number_of_pr>gh pr status

gh for sure saves up time in devflow. Gives additional hands to your terminal for managing the repository. Refer to the official docs for new features and detailed info on using the existing commands.