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github-api-pr-issue-management.md

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title GitHub API for PR and Issue Management
domain devops
tags
github
api
pr
issue
automation
status published
source agent_experience
created 2026-07-02

Problem

Need to manage PRs and issues programmatically via GitHub API when gh CLI is not authenticated or unavailable.

Root Cause

GitHub REST API v3 allows full CRUD operations on PRs, issues, and comments using personal access tokens (PAT). The API endpoints follow predictable patterns:

  • Issues: GET/POST/PATCH /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}
  • PRs: GET/POST/PATCH /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}
  • Comments: GET/POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments
  • Merge: PUT /repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/merge

Fix

Authentication

# Extract token from git credentials
TOKEN=$(cat ~/.git-credentials | grep -i "github.com" | head -1 | sed 's/.*:\/\/[^:]*:\([^@]*\)@.*/\1/')

# Or set directly
TOKEN="ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx"

Create Issue

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues \
  -d '{"title":"Issue title","body":"Issue body","labels":["bug"]}'

Update Issue

curl -s -X PATCH \
  -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number} \
  -d '{"state":"closed","state_reason":"completed"}'

Add Comment

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}/comments \
  -d '{"body":"Comment text"}'

Merge PR

curl -s -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number}/merge \
  -d '{"merge_method":"squash","commit_title":"Title","commit_message":"Message"}'

Close PR

curl -s -X PATCH \
  -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
  https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number} \
  -d '{"state":"closed"}'

Verification

  1. Test API connectivity: curl -s -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" https://api.github.com/user
  2. Verify issue creation: check html_url in response
  3. Verify PR merge: check "merged": true in response

Notes

  • Use jq for JSON parsing: curl ... | jq '.html_url'
  • Rate limit: 5000 requests/hour for authenticated users
  • For large bodies, use JSON file: -d @/tmp/issue.json