GitHub CLI

gh wraps GitHub APIs for PRs, issues, Actions, and releases from the terminal - the fastest path from cargo test green to review requested.

Recipe

gh auth login
gh pr create --fill --web
gh pr checks
gh run watch

When to reach for this:

• Creating PRs after git push
• Watching Rust CI matrix without leaving terminal
• Downloading failed workflow logs
• Triggering workflow_dispatch releases

Working Example

git push -u origin feat/api-42-health
gh pr create \
  --title "feat(api): health route [API-42]" \
  --body "Adds /health and /ready for k8s probes." \
  --reviewer teammate
 
gh pr checkout 128
cargo test
gh pr comment 128 --body "cargo test green locally on 1.97.0"
 
gh run list --workflow ci.yml --limit 3
gh run view <id> --log-failed

What this demonstrates:

• --fill uses commit messages for PR title/body
• pr checkout integrates with local git
• run view --log-failed shows clippy/test failures quickly

Deep Dive

Useful Aliases

gh alias set co 'pr checkout'
gh alias set rv 'pr view --web'

Release Assets

gh release create v1.2.0 \
  target/release/my-cli-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu \
  --notes-file CHANGELOG.md

Gotchas

• Wrong repo remote - gh targets origin URL. Fix: gh repo set-default.
• Token scope missing - cannot trigger workflows. Fix: gh auth refresh -s workflow.
• PR create on dirty tree - still works but confuses reviewers. Fix: push only intended commits.
• Large log download - slow terminal. Fix: --log-failed filter.
• Enterprise host - needs GH_HOST or gh auth login --hostname.

Alternatives

FAQs

Related

• Essential Git Commands
• CI config for Rust
• CI/CD for Rust
• Git worktrees

Stack versions: This page was written for Rust 1.97.0 (edition 2024), Tokio 1.x, Axum 0.8, serde 1.0, sqlx 0.8, clap 4, and Polars 0.46+.