GitHub Labels
Reference for discovering and applying labels to GitHub PRs and issues.
When to Use This Skill
| Use this skill when... | Use something else when... |
|---|---|
| Listing available labels in a repo | Creating or managing milestones |
| Adding or removing labels on PRs/issues | Managing GitHub Projects boards |
| Creating new labels with colors | Bulk-editing many issues at once |
| Inheriting labels from issue to PR | Setting PR reviewers or assignees |
Discovering Available Labels
# List all labels with details
gh label list --json name,description,color --limit 50
# Search for specific labels
gh label list --search "bug"
# Output as simple list
gh label list --json name -q '.[].name'
Adding Labels to PRs
# Single label
gh pr create --label "bug"
# Multiple labels (repeat flag)
gh pr create --label "bug" --label "priority:high"
# Comma-separated
gh pr create --label "bug,priority:high"
# Add to existing PR
gh pr edit 123 --add-label "ready-for-review"
Adding Labels to Issues
# Create with labels
gh issue create --label "bug,needs-triage"
# Add to existing issue
gh issue edit 123 --add-label "in-progress"
# Remove label
gh issue edit 123 --remove-label "needs-triage"
Common Label Categories
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Type | bug, feature, enhancement, documentation, chore |
| Priority | priority:critical, priority:high, priority:medium, priority:low |
| Status | needs-triage, in-progress, blocked, ready-for-review |
| Area | frontend, backend, infrastructure, testing, ci-cd |
Label Inheritance Pattern
When creating a PR from an issue:
- Read issue labels via
gh issue view N --json labels - Apply same labels to PR:
gh pr create --label "label1,label2"
This maintains traceability and consistent categorization.
Agentic Optimizations
| Context | Command |
|---|---|
| List all labels (machine-readable) | gh label list --json name,description,color --limit 50 |
| Get label names only | gh label list --json name -q '.[].name' |
| Add label to PR silently | gh pr edit $PR --add-label "label" |
| Check current issue labels | gh issue view $ISSUE --json labels -q '.labels[].name' |
| Inherit labels from issue to PR | `gh issue view $ISSUE --json labels -q '[.labels[].name] |