gh-cli-search

GitHub CLI Search Plugin

A Claude Code plugin providing skills and commands for using GitHub CLI (gh) search effectively with correct syntax, quoting, and platform-specific handling.

What's Included

Search Skills:

• gh-search-code - Search code by file extension, language, path, content, size
• gh-search-commits - Search commits by author, date range, hash, message
• gh-search-issues - Search issues by label, state, assignee, author, dates
• gh-search-prs - Search PRs by draft/merge status, reviews, CI checks, branches
• gh-search-repos - Search repos by stars, forks, language, topics, licenses
• gh-cli-setup - Installation and troubleshooting for gh CLI
• gh-search - General reference for syntax rules across all search types

Slash Commands:

• /gh-search-code, /gh-search-commits, /gh-search-issues, /gh-search-prs, /gh-search-repos

Session-Start Hook: Automatically loads skill awareness at session start so Claude knows how to construct correct gh commands immediately.

Installation

Claude Code (via Plugin Marketplace)

/plugin marketplace add aaddrick/helpful-tools-marketplace

/plugin install gh-cli-search@helpful-tools-marketplace

Verify Installation

Check that commands appear:

/help

# Should see:
# /gh-cli-search:gh-search-code - Search for code within GitHub repositories
# /gh-cli-search:gh-search-commits - Search commit history on GitHub
# /gh-cli-search:gh-search-issues - Search GitHub issues
# ...

Examples

# Search popular Python ML repos
gh search repos "machine learning" --language python --stars ">1000"

# Find your open issues without bug label (note the -- flag!)
gh search issues -- "is:open author:@me -label:bug"

# Find PRs awaiting your review
gh search prs --review-requested @me --state open

# Search for TODO comments in your org's JavaScript code
gh search code "TODO" --owner myorg --language javascript

# Find commits by author in date range
gh search commits --author octocat --author-date "2024-01-01..2024-12-31"

Critical Syntax Rules

• Exclusions require -- flag on Unix/Linux/Mac: gh search issues -- "-label:bug"
• PowerShell needs --%: gh --% search issues -- "query"
• Multi-word queries need quotes: "machine learning" not machine learning
• Use @me for current user, not @username
• Dates use ISO8601: 2024-01-01..2024-12-31

Requirements

• GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated
• GitHub account (public repos work without auth but with rate limits)

Testing

Run the comprehensive test suite (80 test scenarios):

/test-gh-skills

See testing/README.md for details.

Contributing

Test changes using TDD methodology, ensure cross-platform compatibility, update version in plugin.json. Follow the existing skill structure.

Resources

• GitHub CLI Manual
• GitHub Search Syntax
• Claude Code Plugin Docs

License

MIT License