gh-link-subissues_skill

Overview

This skill links one or more GitHub Issues as sub-issues to a parent Issue, supporting cross-repository relationships. It uses the GitHub GraphQL API via the gh CLI to fetch Issue Node IDs and perform addSubIssue mutations. Provide a parent Issue and one or more child Issues as URLs or owner/repo#number strings.

How this skill works

The skill parses the parent and child Issue identifiers and retrieves each Issue's Node ID using gh api graphql queries. For multiple Issues in the same repository it batches lookups with aliased queries to reduce API calls. It then calls the addSubIssue mutation for each child Node ID to attach it to the parent, and reports titles to confirm success.

When to use it

• You want to represent task hierarchies by linking child Issues under a parent Issue.
• You need to associate Issues across different repositories (cross-repo linking).
• You manage project workflows where a parent Issue aggregates progress of sub-tasks.
• You prefer scripting the process via gh CLI instead of the GitHub web UI.

Best practices

• Ensure gh CLI is installed and authenticated before running the skill.
• Verify you have the necessary repository permissions for all involved Issues.
• Use owner/repo#number or full GitHub Issue URLs consistently to avoid parsing errors.
• Batch Node ID lookups for Issues in the same repository using GraphQL aliases.
• Handle already-linked errors gracefully; the API will return an error if a sub-issue is already attached.

Example use cases

• Link three task Issues from a feature repo as sub-issues under a cross-repo planning Issue.
• Automate creating a parent Issue then attaching multiple existing child Issues as part of a release workflow.
• Script daily synchronization to ensure sprint parent Issues reference current work items in other repositories.