GitHub Ops Skill

Complete GitHub automation toolkit using the gh CLI. Covers issue management, project boards, label systems, and bulk operations.

When to Use

• User mentions "GitHub issues", "project board", or "gh cli"
• Setting up automation for a new repo
• Bulk-creating issues from markdown specs
• Managing GitHub Projects (v2)

Prerequisites

# Install GitHub CLI
winget install GitHub.cli   # Windows
brew install gh             # macOS

# Authenticate
gh auth login

# Verify
gh auth status

---

1. Bulk Issue Sync (publish_issues.ps1)

Location: $env:USERPROFILE\.gemini\antigravity\skills\github-ops\scripts\publish_issues.ps1

[!TIP] The script auto-detects the repository from the current working directory. Just cd to your project folder before running.

Features

Feature	Description
Smart Sync	Only processes files that changed since last run (uses .issue-sync-state.json)
Auto-Close	Closes issue when all checkboxes (- [x]) are ticked
Auto-Archive	Moves completed .md files to closed/ subfolder
Natural Sort	Processes Issue_1, Issue_2... Issue_10 (not 1, 10, 11)
Date Sync	Sets Start/Target dates on GitHub Projects

Required Flags

Flag	Required?	Description
(none)	-	Creates new issues only (skips existing)
-Update	For sync	Updates existing issues
-AutoArchive	Optional	Moves completed issues to closed/ folder
-DryRun	Optional	Preview mode - no changes made
-Force	Optional	Bypass change detection, sync all files

Project Date Sync Flags (ALL required with -SyncDates)

Flag	Description	How to Get
-SyncDates	Enable date sync	Just add the flag
-ProjectNumber	Project board number	gh project list --owner USERNAME
-ProjectId	Project node ID	See below
-StartDateFieldId	Start Date field ID	See below
-TargetDateFieldId	Target Date field ID	See below

How to Get Project IDs

# 1. List projects to get project number
gh project list --owner USERNAME

# 2. Get field IDs (replace NUMBER with project number)
gh project field-list NUMBER --owner USERNAME --format json

Look for "Start Date" and "Target Date" in the JSON output. If they don't exist:

gh project field-create NUMBER --owner USERNAME --name "Start Date" --data-type DATE
gh project field-create NUMBER --owner USERNAME --name "Target Date" --data-type DATE

Agent Protocol: Before Running This Script

ALWAYS ask the user:

1. "Do you want to sync to a GitHub Project with dates?"

   • If YES → Need all project IDs
   • If NO → Skip -SyncDates flag

2. "Should completed issues be archived to a closed/ subfolder?"

   • If YES → Add -AutoArchive

3. "First run or update existing?"

   • First run → No flags needed (or just -AutoArchive)
   • Update → Add -Update

ALWAYS run with -DryRun first to preview changes.

Example Commands

# Basic: Create new issues only
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .agent/skills/github-ops/scripts/publish_issues.ps1

# Dry run preview
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .agent/skills/github-ops/scripts/publish_issues.ps1 -Update -DryRun

# Update + archive completed
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .agent/skills/github-ops/scripts/publish_issues.ps1 -Update -AutoArchive

# Full sync with project dates
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .agent/skills/github-ops/scripts/publish_issues.ps1 `
    -Update -AutoArchive -SyncDates `
    -ProjectNumber 7 `
    -ProjectId "PVT_xxx" `
    -StartDateFieldId "PVTF_xxx" `
    -TargetDateFieldId "PVTF_yyy"

---

2. Bulk Add Issues to Project

To quickly add all existing issues to a project (faster than using the sync script):

# Get issue numbers first
$issues = gh issue list --repo OWNER/REPO --state all --limit 500 --json number | ConvertFrom-Json

# Add each to project
$issues | ForEach-Object { 
    gh project item-add PROJECT_NUMBER --owner OWNER --url "https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/issues/$($_.number)"
}

---

3. Quick Commands Reference

Task	Command
List issues	gh issue list
Create issue	gh issue create --title "X" --body "Y" --label "bug"
Close issue	gh issue close 42 --comment "Fixed"
Delete issue	gh issue delete 42 --yes
List labels	gh label list
Create label	gh label create "priority:high" --color "FF0000"
List projects	gh project list --owner OWNER
Get project fields	gh project field-list NUMBER --owner OWNER --format json
Add to project	gh project item-add NUMBER --owner OWNER --url ISSUE_URL

---

4. Supported Issue Markdown Formats

Format A: YAML Frontmatter (Recommended)

---
title: "[Feature] Clear Issue Title"
labels: enhancement, priority-high, module-name
---

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] AC1
- [ ] AC2

Format B: Bold Markdown

**Title:** [Feature] Clear Issue Title
**Labels:** `enhancement`, `priority-high`

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] AC1

Format C: Markdown Headers

## Title
[Feature] Clear Issue Title

## Labels
`enhancement`, `priority-high`

---

5. Label System Setup

# Priority
gh label create "priority-critical" --color "b60205"
gh label create "priority-high" --color "d93f0b"
gh label create "priority-medium" --color "fbca04"
gh label create "priority-low" --color "0e8a16"

# Type
gh label create "type-feature" --color "0e8a16"
gh label create "type-bug" --color "d73a4a"
gh label create "type-refactor" --color "a2eeef"

# Scope
gh label create "MUS" --color "5319e7" --description "Minimum Usable Scope"
gh label create "future-scope" --color "bfdadc"

---

6. Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
gh: command not found	CLI not installed	winget install GitHub.cli
authentication required	Not logged in	gh auth login
Quote errors in titles	Special chars	Script auto-replaces " with '
"No files changed"	Already synced	Use -Force flag
Project commands fail	Wrong IDs	Run gh project field-list
Rate limiting	Too many API calls	Wait or use -DryRun