GitHub Operations Skill

Perform GitHub API operations using $GITHUB_PAT for any repository the token has access to.

Authentication

All API calls use:

Authorization: token $GITHUB_PAT

Base URL: https://api.github.com

Capabilities

Pull Requests

• Create PRs: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls
• Merge PRs: PUT /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/merge
• List/review PRs: GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls
• Add reviewers: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/requested_reviewers
• Comment on PRs: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments

Issues

• Create issues: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues
• Close issues: PATCH /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number} with {"state": "closed"}
• Label issues: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/labels
• Assign issues: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/assignees

Releases

• Create release: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases
• List releases: GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases

Branch Management

• List branches: GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches
• Delete branch: DELETE /repos/{owner}/{repo}/git/refs/heads/{branch}
• Branch protection: PUT /repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/{branch}/protection

Usage Pattern

Always use curl with the PAT:

bash
1curl -s -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_PAT" \
2  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
3  https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/endpoint

For POST/PATCH/PUT, add -X METHOD -d '{"key": "value"}'.

Labels

• List labels: GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels
• Create label: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels with {"name": "...", "color": "...", "description": "..."}
• Add labels to issue/PR: POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/labels with {"labels": ["label1", "label2"]}

Auto-Labeling PRs

When creating PRs, automatically apply labels based on changed files:

Workflow:

1. Before labeling, check if label exists: GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/labels/{name}
2. If 404, create it with the color above
3. Then apply to the PR/issue

Best Practices

• Always check if a PR/issue exists before creating duplicates
• Include meaningful titles and descriptions
• Link PRs to issues with "Closes #N" in the body
• Never force-push to main/master
• Auto-label PRs based on changed file paths (see table above)
• Prefer the API over gh CLI for reliability in remote environments