GitHub CLI, or gh, is the official command-line interface for GitHub that brings pull requests, issues, and other GitHub concepts directly into your terminal. Designed to streamline development workflows, it allows you to perform tasks such as listing issues, managing pull requests, creating releases, and interacting with GitHub repositories without context switching. The tool is free, open source, and available for macOS, Windows, and various Linux distributions.

GitHub Copilot CLI extends these capabilities by integrating a native, terminal-based AI agent. It is designed to move developers from planning to implementation seamlessly, supporting multi-step workflows, parallelized subagent execution through fleets, and native integrations with GitHub's Model Context Protocol (MCP). The tool assists with repository navigation, cross-platform setup, and complex development tasks by allowing users to delegate work, generate plans, and review changes through standard command-line interactions. Every automated action, such as file modification or command execution, requires explicit user approval to ensure full control.

Some of the key features are:

• GitHub Workflow Integration: Directly manage issues, pull requests, checks, and releases from the terminal.
• AI-Powered Assistance: Use the integrated Copilot CLI to describe tasks, outline work via /plan, and execute with autonomous subagents using /fleet.
• Customizable Extensions: Extend functionality with community-driven or custom GitHub CLI extensions, aliases, and MCP servers.
• Enterprise Support: Full compatibility with GitHub Enterprise Server and adherence to organization-wide security and governance policies.
• Scripting Capabilities: Call the GitHub API directly to script workflows, with support for authentication and environment-based configuration.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Available on macOS, Windows, and Linux with official package support (Homebrew, WinGet, apt, dnf, zypper).
• Session Persistence: Maintains history and context across terminal sessions to ensure long-running work remains tracked and manageable.

Usage typically involves authenticating with GitHub credentials via the CLI, which then allows for direct terminal interaction with remote repositories. Developers can create aliases for common, repetitive commands, customize their default editor for tasks like commit messaging or pull request creation, and leverage various subcommands for repository management. The integration with MCP and custom agent skills allows for highly tailored development environments that can be modified to suit specific project needs or organizational policies.

Some common use cases include:

• Streamlining Code Review: Quickly checking the status of pull requests, reviewing checks, and merging changes directly from the command line.
• Issue Tracking: Filtering, viewing, and managing repository backlogs without needing to visit the web interface.
• Automated Deployments: Scripting release creation and asset uploading as part of a CI/CD pipeline.
• Legacy Code Navigation: Using AI-driven agents to understand and refactor legacy codebases more efficiently.
• Terminal-Based Development: Orchestrating complex development tasks and repository setup entirely from the integrated terminal in editors like VS Code.