Issue Search & Discovery

Capability: Native GitHub CLI issue and PR search with 30+ qualifiers

When to use: Searching GitHub Issues/PRs by content, metadata, or complex filters

Quick Commands

Basic Search

# Search across all repositories
gh search issues "authentication error" --repo=owner/repo

# Search in current repository
gh issue list --search "bug"

# Search in multiple fields
gh search issues "database" --match=title,body

Common Filters

# By state and labels
gh search issues --state=open --label=bug,priority:high

# By date range
gh search issues --created="2025-01-01..2025-01-31"

# By assignee or author
gh search issues --assignee=@me --author=username

# By engagement
gh search issues --sort=comments --order=desc

Advanced Qualifiers (30+ available)

Content: in:title, in:body, in:comments State: is:open, is:closed, is:merged, is:draft Labels: label:bug, -label:wontfix, no:label Dates: created:>=2025-01-01, updated:<2025-01-31, closed:2025-01..2025-02 Users: author:username, assignee:username, mentions:username, commenter:username Repos: repo:owner/name, org:orgname, user:username

Complete Syntax Reference: GITHUB_NATIVE_SEARCH_CAPABILITIES.md

Output & Automation

# JSON output for scripting
gh search issues "bug" --json number,title,url,labels --jq '.[] | {number, title}'

# Limit results
gh search issues "bug" --limit=50

# Export to file
gh search issues --label=feature-request --json number,title,body > features.json

Search Limitations

• No regex - Use literal strings only
• No wildcards - Exact match or phrase search
• No context lines - Shows only matching issues, not surrounding context
• For file/code search - Use gh grep extension (see file-searching skill)

Common Workflows

Find Your Assigned Issues

gh search issues --assignee=@me --state=open --repo=owner/repo

Find Recent Bugs

gh search issues --label=bug --created=">=2025-10-01" --state=open --sort=created

Search Knowledge Base

# Search Claude Code tips
gh search issues "plan mode" --repo=terrylica/claude-code-skills-github-issues --label=claude-code

Tool Selection Decision

• Search Issues/PRs → Use gh search issues (this skill)
• Search repository files → Use gh grep (see file-searching skill)
• AI-powered operations → Use gh models (see ai-assisted-operations skill)

Empirical Testing: 200+ test cases, 100% coverage of search qualifiers

Full Operational Guide: AI_AGENT_OPERATIONAL_GUIDE.md