GitHub

The GitHub skill gives Claude access to repositories, issues, pull requests, and code search. It covers both source control and issue tracking, making it the most widely used skill across built-in workflows.

Metadata

Field	Value
ID	github
Category	git
Required env vars	GITHUB_TOKEN

Tools

Tool	Description
github_search_code	Search for code in a repository using GitHub code search syntax
github_get_issue	Get details of a GitHub issue by number
github_search_issues	Search issues and pull requests across a repo or globally
github_list_issues	List a repo’s most recently created issues, newest first
github_list_issue_comments	List comments on an issue or PR, optionally since a time
github_create_issue	Create a new GitHub issue with title, body, and labels
github_create_pr	Create a pull request from a head branch to a base branch
github_add_labels	Add labels to an issue or pull request (also applies label safe outputs)
github_set_issue_state	Reopen a closed issue or pull request, or close an open one (also applies issue_state safe outputs)
github_list_recent_commits	List recent commits on a branch (default: main)
github_get_file	Get a file’s contents from a repository at a given ref
github_list_pr_files	List the files changed in a pull request with status and line counts (read-only)
github_list_dependabot_alerts	List open Dependabot alerts: package, severity, advisory id, patched version (read-only; needs a token with Dependabot alerts access, not the built-in Actions token)

Setup

The GitHub skill requires a personal access token (PAT) or GitHub App installation token.

Fine-grained PAT (recommended)

1. Go to GitHub Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens > Fine-grained tokens.
2. Create a token scoped to the repositories SWEny will access.
3. Grant these permissions:
   • Contents: Read and write (for code search, file reads, and commits)
   • Issues: Read and write (for issue search and creation)
   • Pull requests: Read and write (for PR creation)
   • Metadata: Read-only (required by default)
4. Set the environment variable:

export GITHUB_TOKEN="github_pat_..."

GitHub Actions

In a GitHub Actions workflow, the built-in GITHUB_TOKEN is automatically available:

env:
  GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}

For cross-repository access, use a PAT or GitHub App token instead.

Classic vs. fine-grained tokens

Fine-grained tokens are preferred because you can scope them to specific repositories. Classic tokens grant access to all repositories the user owns, which is broader than necessary.

Workflow usage

The GitHub skill appears in nearly every node of the built-in workflows:

Triage workflow:

• gather — Search code and recent commits to understand what changed
• investigate — Read source files to correlate errors with code
• create_issue — File an issue when no existing ticket covers the problem

Implement workflow:

• analyze — Fetch the issue and read relevant source files
• implement — Create a branch and commit the fix
• create_pr — Open a pull request referencing the original issue
• skip — Comment on the issue if the fix is too complex