GitHub CLI

The command-line - loved by developers all around the world thanks to its incredible efficiency, hated by everyone else that doesn't really understand it.

Even though the command-line is imperative for development work, GitHub operations still require developers to switch to a web browser in order to run various operations on the world's leading software dev platform/repository hosting service.

When it comes to productivity, it's a pretty well-known fact that context switching (switching from one app or one medium to another) is bad.

In this particular situation, the answer to context switching comes in the form of GitHub CLI. As its name suggests, it allows you to complete all your GitHub-related business directly from the command-line interface.

This means everything: from creating repositories, checking out repo READMEs, resolving issues, managing pull requests, creating gists, all the way up to testing, and publishing releases. View the complete list of GitHub CLI commands.

GitHub CLI is free and open-source, and it's actually an official product created by the team behind GitHub. It might be great, but it still has so much untapped potential as it is still actively developed and improved based on the suggestions of users.

Of course, as mentioned at the start, the biggest advantage of using GitHub CLI is the fact that you won't have to switch to a browser or different windows and tools to get things done. Simplicity at its finest.

Other noteworthy aspects include the fact that it is enterprise-ready, meaning that you can use it on both GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise Server.

Last but not least, it's worth noting that the app supports scripts. Being a tool designed with maximizing one's productivity with GitHub, the tool allows you to call the GitHub API to script almost any action.

This means that almost anything can be fully automated resulting, of course, in less time spent on common tasks and more on what actually matters.

It's not often we get to see apps designed with so much attention to detail. The fact that this tool comes directly and officially from GitHub, should be quite the statement to the company's vision and care for its users and developers.

What's most impressive is that it's not even that difficult to use. You can check out anything from installation instructions to the full set of CLI commands, as well as aliases and API on the tool's official website.