Make filtering by bot authors more discoverable#13642
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Point --author help text at --app and add examples for filtering by a GitHub App like Dependabot, so the existing shortcut is discoverable instead of users trying the broken --author dependabot. Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>
gh search parses a bundled quoted query as a single phrase and fails with "Invalid search query". Document passing each qualifier as its own token or flag, and note the quoted-string form is only for the --search flag on pr/issue list. Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>
Filtering by --author <bot> matches nothing because bots author as a GitHub App. Add a bullet covering --app and the [bot] login form. Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>
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Pull request overview
Updates CLI help text and agent guidance to make filtering PRs/issues by GitHub App (bot) authors discoverable, steering users from ineffective --author <app> usage toward the existing --app flag and correct gh search query composition.
Changes:
- Cross-references
--appfrom--authorhelp text ingh pr/issue listandgh search prs/issues. - Adds
--app dependabotexamples togh pr listandgh issue list. - Updates the
skills/ghdocumentation to reflect correctgh searchquery tokenization and documents bot author filtering options.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| skills/gh/SKILL.md | Adjusts agent guidance for gh search syntax and documents bot/GitHub App author filtering. |
| pkg/cmd/search/prs/prs.go | Updates --author help text to point users to --app for GitHub App authors. |
| pkg/cmd/search/issues/issues.go | Updates --author help text to point users to --app for GitHub App authors. |
| pkg/cmd/pr/list/list.go | Adds a --app dependabot example and updates --author help text to reference --app. |
| pkg/cmd/issue/list/list.go | Adds a --app dependabot example and updates --author help text to reference --app. |
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- Files reviewed: 5/5 changed files
- Comments generated: 1
Comment on lines
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| `gh search issues "repo:cli/cli is:open"` is read as a single phrase and | ||
| fails with `Invalid search query`. Quote only multi-word free text |
babakks
approved these changes
Jun 12, 2026
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Description
Surface the existing
--appflag (for examplegh pr list --app dependabot) in--authorhelp text and command examples, and add a short note to theghagent skill, so filtering by a bot author is discoverable instead of silently returning nothing for--author dependabot.Key Points
--appflag already exists onpr list,issue list,search prs, andsearch issues, and expands toauthor:app/<slug>. Nothing pointed--authorusers to it, so--author dependabotquietly returns an empty list.--authorhelp text now cross-references--app, and each command gains an--app dependabotexample.gh searchquery as one quoted string, which actually fails withInvalid search query. The working form is separate qualifier tokens or flags.Notes for reviewers
Three atomic commits:
docs(pr, issue, search): surface --app flag for bot authorschanges help text and examples across the four commands.docs(skill): fix gh search query syntax guidancecorrects the quoted-string advice in theghskill.docs(skill): note bot / GitHub App author filteringadds one bullet on--appand the[bot]login form.Additional Context
--appexists.--appflag this change makes discoverable.