issues

Interact with GitHub issues - create, list, and view issues.

When to Use

• The user wants to create, list, inspect, or otherwise work with GitHub issues.
• The task involves issue intake or repository issue management through the GitHub CLI workflow.
• You need a guided issue flow that gathers titles, descriptions, and action selection before running commands.

Instructions

This command helps you work with GitHub issues using the gh CLI.

Step 1: Determine Action

Use AskUserQuestion to ask what the user wants to do:

Question:

• question: "What would you like to do with GitHub issues?"
• header: "Action"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "Create new issue" description: "Open a new issue with title, body, and optional labels"
  • label: "List issues" description: "View open issues in the current repository"
  • label: "View issue" description: "See details of a specific issue by number"

---

If "Create new issue" selected:

Step 2a: Get Issue Title

Use AskUserQuestion to get the issue title:

Question:

• question: "What's a short, scannable title for this issue? Keep it brief (5-10 words max) - details go in the body. (Use 'Other' to type your title)"
• header: "Title"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "I'll type a title" description: "Enter a concise title like 'Login button unresponsive' or 'Add dark mode support'"

Title guidelines:

• Keep titles SHORT and scannable (5-10 words max)
• Good: "Fix broken password reset flow"
• Bad: "When I try to reset my password and click the button nothing happens and I get an error"
• The description/body is where details belong, not the title

If the user provides a long title, help them shorten it and move the details to the body.

Step 3a: Get Issue Body

Use AskUserQuestion to gather the issue body content:

Question 1 - Issue type context:

• question: "What type of issue is this?"
• header: "Type"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "Bug" description: "Something broken that needs fixing"
  • label: "Enhancement" description: "Improvement to existing functionality"
  • label: "New feature" description: "Brand new functionality"
  • label: "Task" description: "General work item or chore"

Question 2 - Description:

• question: "Now provide the full details. This is where you explain context, background, and specifics that didn't fit in the title. (Use 'Other' to type your description)"
• header: "Description"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "I'll describe it in detail" description: "Provide context, steps, examples, and any relevant information"

The user will select "Other" here to provide their full description.

Description guidelines:

• This is where ALL the detail goes - be thorough
• Include context: what were you doing, what's the background?
• Include specifics: error messages, URLs, versions, etc.
• The more detail here, the better - unlike the title which should be brief

Question 3 - For bugs, ask about reproduction: If issue type is "Bug", use AskUserQuestion:

• question: "Can you provide steps to reproduce this bug? (Use 'Other' to type steps)"
• header: "Repro steps"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "Provide steps" description: "I'll describe how to reproduce the issue"
  • label: "Not reproducible" description: "The bug is intermittent or hard to reproduce"

Question 4 - Expected vs actual behavior (for bugs): If issue type is "Bug", use AskUserQuestion:

• question: "What did you expect to happen vs what actually happened? (Use 'Other' to describe)"
• header: "Behavior"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "Describe behavior" description: "I'll explain expected vs actual behavior"

Step 4a: Get Labels (Optional)

Use AskUserQuestion to select labels:

• question: "Which labels should we add? (if any)"
• header: "Labels"
• multiSelect: true
• options:
  • label: "bug" description: "Something isn't working"
  • label: "enhancement" description: "New feature or request"
  • label: "documentation" description: "Improvements to docs"
  • label: "good first issue" description: "Good for newcomers"

Step 5a: Create the Issue

Construct the issue body based on the type:

For Bug reports:

## Description
[User's description]

## Steps to Reproduce
[User's reproduction steps or "Not easily reproducible"]

## Expected Behavior
[What should happen]

## Actual Behavior
[What actually happens]

For Feature requests/Enhancements:

## Description
[User's description]

## Use Case
[Why this would be useful]

For Tasks/Other:

## Description
[User's description]

Run the gh command to create the issue:

gh issue create --title "[title]" --body "[constructed body]" --label "[labels]"

Report the issue URL back to the user.

---

If "List issues" selected:

Step 2b: Filter Options

Use AskUserQuestion to determine filtering:

• question: "How would you like to filter issues?"
• header: "Filter"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "All open issues" description: "Show all open issues"
  • label: "Assigned to me" description: "Issues assigned to the current user"
  • label: "Created by me" description: "Issues I created"
  • label: "With specific label" description: "Filter by a label"

If "With specific label" selected, use AskUserQuestion:

• question: "Which label to filter by? (Use 'Other' for custom label)"
• header: "Label"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "bug" description: "Bug reports"
  • label: "enhancement" description: "Feature requests"
  • label: "documentation" description: "Documentation issues"

Step 3b: List Issues

Run the appropriate gh command:

• All open: gh issue list
• Assigned to me: gh issue list --assignee @me
• Created by me: gh issue list --author @me
• With label: gh issue list --label "[label]"

Display the results in a clean format.

---

If "View issue" selected:

Step 2c: Get Issue Number

Use AskUserQuestion:

• question: "Which issue number would you like to view? (Use 'Other' to enter the number)"
• header: "Issue #"
• multiSelect: false
• options:
  • label: "Enter issue number" description: "I'll type the issue number"

Step 3c: View Issue

Run: gh issue view [number]

Display the issue details including title, body, labels, assignees, and comments.

---

Error Handling

If gh command fails:

1. Check if user is authenticated: gh auth status
2. If not authenticated, inform user to run gh auth login
3. Check if in a git repository with a GitHub remote
4. Report specific error message to user

Important Notes

• Titles should be succinct (5-10 words) - if a user provides a long title, help shorten it and move details to body
• Bodies should be detailed - encourage users to provide thorough context, steps, and specifics
• Always confirm the issue was created successfully by showing the URL
• For issue bodies, preserve user's formatting and newlines
• If the user provides minimal information, that's okay - create the issue with what they gave
• Use HEREDOC for the body to preserve formatting:

  gh issue create --title "Title" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
  Body content here
  EOF
  )"
  

Limitations

• Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
• Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
• Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.