Integrating cli in a project #3881

Do not import gh as a Go library — it is designed as a standalone CLI, not a stable SDK. Internal packages change without semver guarantees.

Recommended: shell out to gh from your tool

Works in any language and tracks the installed gh version users already have:

# Your tool calls:
gh release create v1.2.3 --notes-file CHANGELOG.md
gh pr create --fill
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls --method POST ...

From Go:

cmd := exec.Command("gh", "release", "view", tag, "--json", "url")
out, err := cmd.Output()

From Node:

import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
const url = execFileSync("gh", ["release", "view", tag, "--json", "url"], { encoding: "utf8" });

When to use the GitHub REST/GraphQL API directly

If you need tight control, typed clients, or heavy CI usage, use official API clients:

• Go: google/go-github
• JS: @octokit/rest

Authenticate with a GitHub App or PAT. This is more stable for multi-repo orchestration than coupling to gh internals.

Hybrid approach (common in multi-repo setups)

Why this fits your goal

You want CI to call a few commands instead of sprawling YAML — a thin internal CLI that wraps gh (or the API) gives you that without maintaining a fork of gh as a library.

Start with subprocess calls; refactor hot paths to the API only if you hit performance or parsing limits.