find-issues

Find Issues

Search a repo's existing issues via gh for ones matching a given query, so work doesn't duplicate an already-tracked issue.

1. Determine the target repo

Default to the current repo's origin remote (gh repo view or git remote get-url origin). Use a different owner/repo only if the user names one explicitly.

Complete when: the target owner/repo is known.

2. Take the query

Use the query as given — an error message, symptom description, or feature request — without narrowing it prematurely.

Complete when: the search query is clear.

3. Search

Run gh issue list --search "<query>" --repo <owner/repo> (or gh search issues "<query>" --repo <owner/repo>), trying a few phrasings since one search under-matches: the literal query, key error text alone, and a paraphrase around the underlying functionality.

Complete when: multiple relevant searches have been run.

4. Evaluate matches

For each candidate, check whether it shares a similar title/description, the same error message or symptom, related functionality or component, or a similar feature request — not just an incidental keyword overlap.

Complete when: every candidate has been checked against the query for a real match, not just a keyword hit.

5. Report

List matching issues with their number, title, a one-sentence reason they match, and a link. If no clear matches are found, say so plainly.

Complete when: matches (or their absence) have been reported with a reason for each.