GitHub Launches Command-Line Interface Tool for Pull Requests and Issues in Open Beta: GitHub CLI
Launching with initial support for issue and pull request functionality, gh is designed to bring the features of GitHub outside the browser.
Popular collaborative code-hosting service GitHub has officially launched an open beta for GitHub CLI, its command-line interface package for managing issues and pull requests.
"We’re introducing an easier and more seamless way to work with GitHub from the command line — GitHub CLI, now in beta," writes GitHub's Billy Griffin. "Millions of developers rely on GitHub to make building software more fun and collaborative, and gh brings the GitHub experience right to your terminal. We started with issues and pull requests because many developers use them every day."
While most command line handling of GitHub repositories takes place using the git version control system from which the service gets its name, the new GitHub CLI tool — gh — is designed for dealing with GitHub facilities which are not part of the version control system. Key among these are issues, bugs and other comments raised by coders and users on packages — and which can now be viewed and listed at the command line, without having to open a browser.
The open beta release also includes support for pull requests, letting contributors create a pull request — a bundle of changes to fix a bug, add a feature, or simply tidy something up — and submit it for consideration, view its progress, and check it out if changes have been requested by repository maintainers.
"We hope you’ll love the foundation we’ve built with pull requests and issues," Griffin notes. "And we’re even more excited about the future as we explore what it looks like to build a truly delightful experience with GitHub on the command line. As GitHub CLI continues to make it even more seamless to contribute to projects on GitHub, the sky’s the limit on what we can achieve together."
More information is available on the GitHub blog post announcing the beta, while the freshly-launched GitHub CLI sub-site has downloads for Windows, macOS, and Linux, along with a user manual.