Read GitHub Issue

Overview

Retrieve the complete content of a GitHub issue including title, body, labels, and metadata for use in SDLC workflows. Optionally includes issue comments.

Arguments

Definitions

• •[issue-number] (required): The issue number to read (e.g., 123).
• •[--comments] (optional): Include issue comments in the output.

Values

$ARGUMENTS

Core Principles

• •Verify gh CLI is available and authenticated before attempting to read
• •Return structured information that can be used by other skills
• •Include all relevant metadata (labels, milestone, assignees, state)
• •Handle non-existent issues gracefully with clear error messages

Instructions

1. •

   Verify the gh CLI is available by running gh --version

2. •

   Parse the issue number from the command input

3. •

   Execute the gh command to view the issue:

   code

   gh issue view <issue-number> --json title,body,labels,milestone,assignees,state,comments,url
   

4. •

   Parse the JSON response and format the output

5. •

   If --comments flag is provided, include all issue comments

6. •

   If the issue doesn't exist, report a clear error message

Output Guidance

Display the issue information in a readable format.

On success: Use the template in the Templates section below.

On error:

Failed to retrieve issue #999: issue not found

Templates

Format the structured summary for display:

## Issue #<number>: <title>

**State**: <open/closed>
**Labels**: <label1>, <label2>
**Milestone**: <milestone or N/A>
**Assignees**: <assignee1>, <assignee2> or Unassigned

### Description

<issue body>

### Comments (if requested)

**@username** (date):
<comment body>