GitHub CLI

What it is

GitHub CLI, the gh command, brings GitHub into your terminal. After gh auth login, you can clone repositories, create and check out pull requests, review them, open and list issues, watch GitHub Actions runs, create releases and call the GitHub API, all without leaving the command line. It is open source, built by GitHub, and available for macOS, Windows and Linux, including through Homebrew and apt.

What you can do with it

• gh repo clone owner/name and gh repo create for repositories
• gh pr create --fill to open a pull request from your branch using your commit messages
• gh pr checkout 42 to test a teammate's pull request locally
• gh pr status, gh pr view --web and gh pr review for reviews
• gh issue list and gh issue create for issues
• gh run list and gh run watch for CI
• gh api for anything else in the GitHub API

Why it is worth learning

Most of a developer's GitHub time is small trips to the browser: open a pull request, check whether CI passed, fetch someone's branch to test it. gh turns those into short commands you can run from the same terminal as Git, and into scripts when you repeat them. gh auth login can also set up authentication for Git over HTTPS, which avoids a common stumbling block for beginners.

Who it is for

Anyone using GitHub who is comfortable in a terminal. Beginners get the most from gh auth, gh repo clone and gh pr create; the rest can come later.

Limitations

It does not replace reading a pull request carefully on GitHub, where the full diff view and discussion are easier to follow. It covers GitHub only, not other Git hosts.

Common questions

Is it the same as GitHub Desktop? No. GitHub Desktop is a graphical app; gh is a command-line tool.

Does it replace Git? No. You still use Git for commits and branches; gh handles the GitHub side.

Is it free? Yes. It is free and open source.