gh-manager-cli

Interactive terminal app to browse and manage your personal GitHub repositories. Built with Ink (React for CLIs) and the GitHub GraphQL API.

Fast, keyboard-first GitHub repo management from your terminal

Documentation

Screenshots

_{Listing • Auth • Delete confirmation}

Quick Start

# Run with npx (no install)
npx gh-manager-cli

On first run, you'll be prompted for a GitHub Personal Access Token.

Features

Core Repository Management

• Token Authentication: Secure PAT storage with validation and persistence
• Repository Listing: Browse all your personal repositories with metadata (stars, forks, language, etc.)
• Live Pagination: Infinite scroll with automatic page prefetching
• Interactive Sorting: Modal-based sort selection (updated, pushed, name, stars) with direction toggle
• Smart Search: Server-side search through repository names and descriptions (3+ characters)
• Visibility Filtering: Modal-based visibility filter (All, Public, Private, Internal for enterprise) with server-side filtering
• Fork Status Tracking: Toggle display of commits behind upstream for forked repositories
• Repository Actions:
  • View detailed info (I) - Shows repository metadata, language, size, and timestamps
  • Open in browser (Enter/O)
  • Delete repository (Del or Backspace) with secure two-step confirmation
  • Archive/unarchive repositories (Ctrl+A) with confirmation prompts
  • Sync forks with upstream (Ctrl+S) with automatic conflict detection

User Interface & Experience

• Keyboard Navigation: Full keyboard control (arrow keys, PageUp/Down, Ctrl+G/G)
• Display Density: Toggle between compact/cozy/comfy spacing (T)
• Visual Indicators: Fork status, private/archived badges, language colors, visibility status
• Interactive Modals: Sort selection, visibility filtering, and organization switching via modal dialogs
• Balanced Layout: Repository items with spacing above and below for better visual hierarchy
• Loading States: Contextual loading screens for sorting and refreshing operations
• Rate Limit Monitoring: Live API usage display with visual warnings
• Improved Layout: Balanced spacing above and below repository items for better visual hierarchy

Technical Features

• Preference Persistence: UI settings (sort, density, visibility filter, fork tracking) saved between sessions
• Server-side Filtering: Visibility filtering performed at GitHub API level for accurate pagination
• Cross-platform: Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows
• Secure Storage: Token stored with proper file permissions (0600)
• Error Handling: Graceful error recovery with retry mechanisms
• Performance: Efficient GraphQL queries with virtualized rendering and server-side filtering

Installation

NPX (Recommended - No Installation Required)

Run instantly without installing:

npx gh-manager-cli

NPM Global Install

Install globally for persistent gh-manager-cli command:

npm install -g gh-manager-cli
gh-manager-cli

Pre-built Binaries (No Node.js Required)

Download standalone executables from GitHub Releases:

• Linux: gh-manager-cli-linux-x64
• macOS: gh-manager-cli-macos-x64
• Windows: gh-manager-cli-windows-x64.exe

Make the binary executable (Linux/macOS):

chmod +x gh-manager-cli-*
./gh-manager-cli-*

From Source

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18+
• pnpm

Install and build:

pnpm install
pnpm build

Run locally:

node dist/index.js
# Or add to PATH for dev
pnpm link
gh-manager-cli

Token & Security

The app needs a GitHub token to read your repositories.

• Provide via env var: GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN, or enter when prompted on first run.
• Recommended: classic PAT with repo scope for listing both public and private repos (read is sufficient).
• Validation: a minimal viewer { login } request verifies the token.
• Storage: token is saved as JSON in your OS user config directory with POSIX perms 0600.
  • macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/gh-manager-cli/config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/gh-manager-cli/config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\gh-manager-cli\config.json
• Revocation: you can revoke the PAT at any time in your GitHub settings.

Note: Tokens are stored in plaintext on disk with restricted permissions. Future work may add OS keychain support.

PAT Permissions & Scopes

Choose the least-privileged token for the features you plan to use:

• Browsing/searching repos (public only): public_repo
• Browsing/searching repos (includes private): repo
• Archive/Unarchive repository: repo (and you must have admin or maintainer rights on the repo)
• Sync fork with upstream: repo (you must have push rights to your fork)
• Delete repository: delete_repo (and admin rights on the repo)

Notes:

• Organization repositories may require that your token is SSO-authorized if the org enforces SSO.
• If organization data doesn’t appear in the switcher, ensure your token is authorized for that org and consider adding read:org (some org setups require it to list memberships).
• Fine-grained PATs: grant Repository access to the repos you need and enable at least:
  • Metadata: Read
  • Contents: Read (list/search), Read & Write (sync/archive)
  • Administration: Manage (only if you need delete) If in doubt, the classic repo scope plus delete_repo (for deletion) is the simplest equivalent.

Usage

Launch the app, then use the keys below:

Navigation & View Controls

• Top/Bottom: Ctrl+G (top), G (bottom)
• Page Navigation: ↑↓ Arrow keys, PageUp/PageDown
• Search: / to enter search mode, type 3+ characters for server-side search
  • Down arrow or Enter: Start browsing search results
  • Esc: Clear search and return to full repository list
• Sort: S opens sort modal with options:
  • Updated: When the repository was last modified
  • Pushed: When code was last pushed
  • Name: Alphabetical by repository name
  • Stars: Number of stars
• Sort Direction: D to toggle ascending/descending
• Display Density: T to toggle compact/cozy/comfy
• Fork Status: F to toggle showing commits behind upstream
• Visibility Filter: V opens modal (All, Public, Private, Internal for enterprise)

Navigation & Account

• Open in browser: Enter or O
• Refresh: R
• Organization switcher: W to switch between personal account and organizations
• Logout: Ctrl+L
• Quit: Q

Repository Actions

• Repository info: I to view detailed metadata (size, language, timestamps)
• Cache info: Ctrl+I to inspect Apollo cache status
• Archive/Unarchive: Ctrl+A with confirmation prompt
• Delete repository: Del or Backspace (with two-step confirmation modal)
  • Type confirmation code → confirm (Y/Enter)
  • Cancel: press C or Esc
• Sync fork: Ctrl+S (for forks only, shows commit status and handles conflicts)

General

• Esc: Cancels modals, clears search, or returns to normal listing (does not quit)

The header displays the current owner context (Personal Account or Organization name), active sort and direction, fork status tracking state, and active search/filter.

Status bar shows loaded count vs total. A rate-limit line displays remaining/limit and the reset time; it turns yellow when remaining ≤ 10% of the limit.

Pagination Details

• Uses GitHub GraphQL viewer.repositories with ownerAffiliations: OWNER, ordered by UPDATED_AT DESC.
• Fetches 15 repos per page by default (configurable via REPOS_PER_FETCH environment variable, 1-50).
• Updates totalCount each time and prefetches the next page when selection nears the end of loaded list.

Development

Stack:

• UI: ink, ink-text-input, ink-spinner
• API: @octokit/graphql, Apollo Client
• Config paths: env-paths
• Language: TypeScript
• Build: tsup (CJS output with shebang)

Scripts:

pnpm build          # build to dist/
pnpm build:binaries # build cross-platform binaries to ./binaries/
pnpm dev            # watch mode
pnpm start          # run normally
pnpm start:debug    # run with debug mode enabled
pnpm start:dev      # run with 5 repos per page and debug mode

Environment variables:

• REPOS_PER_FETCH: Number of repositories to fetch per page (1-50, default: 15)
• GH_MANAGER_DEBUG=1: Enables debug mode with performance metrics and detailed errors

Project layout:

• src/index.tsx — CLI entry and error handling
• src/ui/App.tsx — token bootstrap, renders RepoList
• src/ui/RepoList.tsx — main list UI with modal management
• src/ui/components/ — modular components (modals, repo, common)
  • modals/ — DeleteModal, ArchiveModal, SyncModal, InfoModal, LogoutModal
  • repo/ — RepoRow, FilterInput, RepoListHeader
  • common/ — SlowSpinner and shared UI elements
• src/ui/OrgSwitcher.tsx — organization switching component
• src/github.ts — GraphQL client and queries (repos + rateLimit)
• src/config.ts — token read/write and UI preferences
• src/types.ts — shared types
• src/utils.ts — utility functions (truncate, formatDate)
• src/apolloMeta.ts — Apollo cache management

Apollo Cache (Performance)

gh-manager-cli includes built-in Apollo Client caching to reduce GitHub API calls and improve performance. Caching is always enabled for optimal performance.

Debug Mode

Run with GH_MANAGER_DEBUG=1 to enable debugging features:

GH_MANAGER_DEBUG=1 npx gh-manager-cli

Debug mode provides:

• Apollo performance metrics: Query execution time, cache hit/miss indicators
• Detailed error messages: Full GraphQL and network errors for troubleshooting
• Data source tracking: Shows whether data came from cache or network

Verifying Cache is Working

1. Performance Indicators (visible in debug mode):

   • From cache: YES = Data served from cache
   • Query time < 50ms = Likely cache hit
   • Network status codes = Shows Apollo's internal cache state

2. API Credits: Monitor the API counter in the header - it should remain stable when navigating previously loaded data

3. Cache Inspection: Press Ctrl+I (available anytime) to see:

   • Cache file location and size
   • Recent cache entries with timestamps
   • Cache age for each query type

Why API Credits Might Still Decrease

Even with caching enabled, API credits may decrease due to:

• First-time requests: Initial data must be fetched and cached
• Cache expiration: Default 30-minute TTL (customize with APOLLO_TTL_MS)
• Pagination: New pages beyond the cache are fetched from API
• Cache-and-network policy: Updates stale cache data in background
• Sorting changes: Different sort orders create new cache entries

Configuration

# Number of repositories to fetch per page (1-50, default: 15)
REPOS_PER_FETCH=10 npx gh-manager-cli

# Custom cache TTL (milliseconds) - default: 30 minutes
APOLLO_TTL_MS=1800000 npx gh-manager-cli

# Enable debug mode to see cache performance
GH_MANAGER_DEBUG=1 npx gh-manager-cli

# Combine multiple environment variables
REPOS_PER_FETCH=5 GH_MANAGER_DEBUG=1 npx gh-manager-cli-cli

Troubleshooting

• Invalid token: enter a valid PAT (recommended scope: repo).
• Rate limited: wait for the reset shown in the banner or reduce navigation.
• Network errors: check connectivity and press r to retry.

Todo & Roadmap

For the up-to-date task board, see TODOs.md.

Recently implemented:

• ✅ Density toggle for row spacing (compact/cozy/comfy)
• ✅ Repo actions (archive/unarchive, delete) with confirmations
• ✅ Organization support and switching (press W)
• ✅ Enhanced server-side search with improved UX
• ✅ Smart infinite scroll with 80% prefetch trigger
• ✅ Modal-based sort and visibility filtering
• ✅ Server-side visibility filtering for accurate pagination

Highlights on deck:

• Optional OS keychain storage via keytar
• Bulk selection and actions
• Repository renaming

License

MIT