GitHub Operations

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Managing GitHub issues
• Projects with gh

Example prompts

• “/github-operations”

Requirements

• Python 3
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Claude Code 2.1.277+. Requires gh CLI.
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList

Workflow steps

9 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Always use --json for scripting - Parse with --jq for reliability
2. 2Non-interactive mode for automation - Use --title, --body flags
3. 3Check rate limits before bulk operations - gh api rate_limit. On CC ≥ 2.1.116, the Bash tool surfaces a rate-limit hint in the transcript…
4. 4Use heredocs for multi-line content - --body "$(cat <<'EOF'...EOF)"
5. 5Link issues in PRs - Closes #123, Fixes #456 — GitHub auto-closes on merge
6. 6Use ISO 8601 dates - YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ for milestone due_on
7. 7Close milestones, don't delete - Preserve history
8. 8milestone takes NAME, not number - Load Read("references/cli-vs-api-identifiers.md")
9. 9Never gh issue close directly - Comment progress with gh issue comment; issues close only when their linked PR merges to the default branch

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1f8d8f3. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read
  • Glob
  • Grep
  • Bash
  • Write
  • Edit
  • TaskCreate
  • TaskUpdate
  • TaskList

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • gh
  • claude
  • brew

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

  • github.com

  Also links to:

  • docs.github.com
  • cli.github.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Claude Code 2.1.277+. Requires gh CLI.

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

GitHub Operations loads about 3.2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~10k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 55 tokens; SKILL.md has 865 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~55

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~3.2k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~10k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

• NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md

  allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from yonatangross/orchestkit at commit 1f8d8f3, republished under its MIT licence (© yonatangross). 865 words, ~3,175 tokens.

name

github-operations

description

GitHub CLI operations for issues, PRs, milestones, and Projects v2. Covers gh commands, REST API patterns, and automation scripts. Use when managing GitHub issues, PRs, milestones, or Projects with gh.

allowed-tools

Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList

compatibility

Claude Code 2.1.277+. Requires gh CLI.

license

MIT

context

fork

user-invocable

false

metadata.category

workflow-automation

metadata.version

1.1.0

metadata.author

OrchestKit

metadata.complexity

medium

metadata.tags

github, gh, cli, issues, pr, milestones, projects, api

# 1. Create main task IMMEDIATELY
TaskCreate(
  subject="GitHub Operations: {target}",
  description="Managing GitHub issues, PRs, milestones, or Projects",
  activeForm="Managing GitHub resources"
)

# 2. Create subtasks matching the operation scope
TaskCreate(subject="Issue management", activeForm="Creating/updating issues")
TaskCreate(subject="PR management", activeForm="Managing pull requests")
TaskCreate(subject="Milestone tracking", activeForm="Updating milestones")

# 3. Set dependencies if operations are sequential
TaskUpdate(taskId="3", addBlockedBy=["2"])
TaskUpdate(taskId="4", addBlockedBy=["3"])

# 4. Update status as you progress
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="in_progress")  # When starting
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="completed")    # When done

# Create issue with labels and milestone
gh issue create --title "Bug: API returns 500" --body "..." --label "bug" --milestone "Sprint 5"

# List and filter issues
gh issue list --state open --label "backend" --assignee @me

# Edit issue metadata
gh issue edit 123 --add-label "high" --milestone "v2.0"

# Create PR with reviewers
gh pr create --title "feat: Add search" --body "..." --base dev --reviewer @teammate

# Watch CI status and auto-merge
gh pr checks 456 --watch
gh pr merge 456 --auto --squash --delete-branch

# Resume a session linked to a PR (CC 2.1.27)
claude --from-pr 456           # Resume session with PR context (diff, comments, review status)
claude --from-pr https://github.com/org/repo/pull/456

# List milestones with progress
gh api repos/:owner/:repo/milestones --jq '.[] | "\(.title): \(.closed_issues)/\(.open_issues + .closed_issues)"'

# Create milestone with due date
gh api -X POST repos/:owner/:repo/milestones \
  -f title="Sprint 8" -f due_on="2026-02-15T00:00:00Z"

# Close milestone (API uses number, not name)
MILESTONE_NUM=$(gh api repos/:owner/:repo/milestones --jq '.[] | select(.title=="Sprint 8") | .number')
gh api -X PATCH repos/:owner/:repo/milestones/$MILESTONE_NUM -f state=closed

# Assign issues to milestone (CLI uses name, not number)
gh issue edit 123 124 125 --milestone "Sprint 8"

# Add issue to project
gh project item-add 1 --owner @me --url https://github.com/org/repo/issues/123

# Set custom field (requires GraphQL)
gh api graphql -f query='mutation {...}' -f projectId="..." -f itemId="..."

# Get issue numbers matching criteria
gh issue list --json number,labels --jq '[.[] | select(.labels[].name == "bug")] | .[].number'

# PR summary with author
gh pr list --json number,title,author --jq '.[] | "\(.number): \(.title) by \(.author.login)"'

# Find ready-to-merge PRs (statusCheckRollup is an ARRAY, so fold it first)
gh pr list --json number,reviewDecision,statusCheckRollup \
  --jq '[.[] | select(.reviewDecision == "APPROVED"
        and ([(.statusCheckRollup // [])[] | .conclusion // .state]
             | length > 0 and all(IN("SUCCESS","SKIPPED","NEUTRAL"))))]'

# Define issues as an array of "title|labels|milestone" entries
SPRINT="Sprint 9"
ISSUES=(
  "feat: Add user auth|enhancement,backend|$SPRINT"
  "fix: Login redirect loop|bug,high|$SPRINT"
  "chore: Update dependencies|maintenance|$SPRINT"
)

for entry in "${ISSUES[@]}"; do
  IFS='|' read -r title labels milestone <<< "$entry"
  NUM=$(gh issue create \
    --title "$title" \
    --label "$labels" \
    --milestone "$milestone" \
    --body "" \
    --json number --jq '.number')
  echo "Created #$NUM: $title"
done

# OLD — no longer supported
gh extension install github/gh-copilot   # fails
gh copilot suggest "revert last commit"   # fails

# NEW — standalone `copilot` binary
copilot suggest "revert last commit"
copilot explain "git rebase -i HEAD~5"

gh agent-task create --repo owner/repo --title "Fix flaky login test"
gh agent-task list --state open
gh agent-task view 42 --log          # stream agent log
gh agent-task watch 42                # live-follow until completion
gh agent-task cancel 42

# List sub-issues of parent #123
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/123/sub_issues

# Add an existing issue #456 as sub-issue of #123
gh api -X POST repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/123/sub_issues \
  -f sub_issue_id=$(gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/456 --jq .node_id)

# Remove a sub-issue relationship
gh api -X DELETE repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/123/sub_issue \
  -F sub_issue_id=<id>

© yonatangross, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 13 other files (references) in src/skills/github-operations of yonatangross/orchestkit.

• SKILL.md
• examples/automation-scripts.md
• references/cli-vs-api-identifiers.md
• references/graphql-api.md
• references/issue-management.md
• references/milestone-api.md
• references/ork-delta.md
• references/pr-workflows.md
• references/projects-v2.md
• rules/_sections.md
• rules/_template.md
• rules/issue-branch-linking.md
• rules/issue-tracking-automation.md
• test-cases.json

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1f8d8f3