Create, list, comment on, and close GitHub issues non-interactively with the gh CLI
domain: cli.github.com · 7 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Create: gh issue create -t 'Title' -b 'Body' (or -F/--body-file path, '-' for stdin) — both title and body must be supplied to avoid interactive prompts
Enrich at creation: -a/--assignee login (or @me), -l/--label bug (repeatable), -m/--milestone name, -p/--project 'Roadmap', --parent <number> for sub-issues, --blocked-by/--blocking <numbers>
List and filter: gh issue list -s/--state {open|closed|all} (default open), -l/--label bug -l 'help wanted' (AND logic), -A/--author user, -a/--assignee user, -S/--search 'error no:assignee sort:created-asc'
Script output: gh issue list --json number,title,labels --jq '.[] | select(.labels | length == 0)' and -L/--limit (default 30)
Comment: gh issue comment 123 -b 'text' (--edit-last edits your last comment; --create-if-none creates one if you have none)
Close: gh issue close 123 -c 'closing comment' -r/--reason {completed|'not planned'|duplicate} (--duplicate-of <number-or-url> marks a duplicate)
Docs: https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_issue_create , https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_issue_list , https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_issue_comment , https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_issue_close (verified against gh 2.97.0, released 2026-07-31)
Known gotchas
gh issue create without -t/-b prompts (or with -e/--editor opens an editor) — a hang in headless automation
Multiple -l/--label filters are ANDed; there is no OR for labels outside of -S/--search query syntax
--search uses GitHub's issue search syntax (advanced filter syntax on supported hosts) — put state/label conditions inside the query rather than mixing flags
--edit-last fails when you have no prior comment unless --create-if-none is also passed
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