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GitHub CLI

This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2023-07-06. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

GitHub CLI quickstart

In this article

Start using GitHub CLI to work with GitHub in the command line.

About GitHub CLI

GitHub CLI is an open source tool for using GitHub from your computer's command line. When you're working from the command line, you can use the GitHub CLI to save time and avoid switching context.

Getting started

  1. Install GitHub CLI on macOS, Windows, or Linux.
  2. In the command line, authenticate to GitHub. Replace HOSTNAME with the name of your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. For example, octo-inc.ghe.com.
gh auth login --hostname HOSTNAME
  1. Start working with GitHub in the command line. For example, find an issue to work on with gh issue status or gh issue list --assignee @me. Create a pull request with gh pr create. Review a pull request with gh pr checkout, gh pr diff and gh pr review.

Next steps

  • Tell GitHub CLI which text editor to use for commands that open a text editor. For example, enter gh config set editor "code -w" to set your preferred text editor to Visual Studio Code. For more information, see gh config set.

  • Define aliases for commands that you commonly run. For example, if you run gh alias set prd "pr create --draft", you will then be able to run gh prd to quickly open a draft pull request. For more information, see gh alias.

  • Create or add custom commands with GitHub CLI extensions. For more information, see "Using GitHub CLI extensions" and "Creating GitHub CLI extensions."

  • For more information about all of the commands that you can run with GitHub CLI, see "GitHub CLI reference."