GH-SEARCH-ISSUES(1) GitHub CLI manual GH-SEARCH-ISSUES(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

gh-search-issues - Search for issues

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**gh search issues \[<query>] \[flags]**

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Search for issues on GitHub.

The command supports constructing queries using the GitHub search syntax, using the parameter and qualifier flags, or a combination of the two.

GitHub search syntax is documented at:

⟨https://docs.github.com/search-github/searching-on-github/searching-issues-and-pull-requests⟩

On supported GitHub hosts, advanced issue search syntax can be used in the **--search** query. Advanced search syntax, like boolean operators **OR**/**AND**, and parentheses for nesting, must be passed as separate arguments, rather than within a quoted multi-word string. This syntax is not supported with **--web**. For more information about advanced issue search, see:

⟨https://docs.github.com/en/issues/tracking-your-work-with-issues/using-issues/filtering-and-searching-issues-and-pull-requests#building-advanced-filters-for-issues⟩

Use **--search-type** to select semantic or hybrid (keyword + semantic) ranking instead of the default lexical search. Semantic and hybrid search are scoped to issues, are relevance-ranked (so **--sort** and **--order** cannot be used), return a single page of results, and are not available on GitHub Enterprise Server.

For more information on handling search queries containing a hyphen, run **gh search --help**.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[**--app** **<string>**](#app)

Filter by GitHub App author

[**--archived**](#archived)

Filter based on the repository archived state {true|false}

[**--assignee** **<string>**](#assignee)

Filter by assignee

[**--author** **<string>**](#author)

Filter by author (use --app to filter by a GitHub App)

[**--closed** **<date>**](#closed)

Filter on closed at date

[**--commenter** **<user>**](#commenter)

Filter based on comments by user

[**--comments** **<number>**](#comments)

Filter on number of comments

[**--created** **<date>**](#created)

Filter based on created at date

[**--include-prs**](#include_prs)

Include pull requests in results

[**--interactions** **<number>**](#interactions)

Filter on number of reactions and comments

[**--involves** **<user>**](#involves)

Filter based on involvement of user

[**-q**, **--jq** **<expression>**](#q)

Filter JSON output using a jq expression

[**--json** **<fields>**](#json)

Output JSON with the specified fields

[**--label** **<strings>**](#label)

Filter on label

[**--language** **<string>**](#language)

Filter based on the coding language

[**-L**, **--limit** **<int> (default 30)**](#L)

Maximum number of results to fetch

[**--locked**](#locked)

Filter on locked conversation status

[**--match** **<strings>**](#match)

Restrict search to specific field of issue: {title|body|comments}

[**--mentions** **<user>**](#mentions)

Filter based on user mentions

[**--milestone** **<title>**](#milestone)

Filter by milestone title

[**--no-assignee**](#no_assignee)

Filter on missing assignee

[**--no-label**](#no_label)

Filter on missing label

[**--no-milestone**](#no_milestone)

Filter on missing milestone

[**--no-project**](#no_project)

Filter on missing project

[**--order** **<string> (default "desc")**](#order)

Order of results returned, ignored unless '--sort' flag is specified: {asc|desc}

[**--owner** **<strings>**](#owner)

Filter on repository owner

[**--project** **<owner/number>**](#project)

Filter on project board owner/number

[**--reactions** **<number>**](#reactions)

Filter on number of reactions

[**-R**, **--repo** **<OWNER/REPO>**](#R)

Filter on repository, in OWNER/REPO format

[**--search-type** **<string> (default "lexical")**](#search_type)

Type of issue search to perform: {lexical|semantic|hybrid}

[**--sort** **<string> (default "best-match")**](#sort)

Sort fetched results: {comments|created|interactions|reactions|reactions-+1|reactions--1|reactions-heart|reactions-smile|reactions-tada|reactions-thinking\_face|updated}

[**--state** **<string>**](#state)

Filter based on state: {open|closed}

[**--team-mentions** **<string>**](#team_mentions)

Filter based on team mentions

[**-t**, **--template** **<string>**](#t)

Format JSON output using a Go template; see "gh help formatting"

[**--updated** **<date>**](#updated)

Filter on last updated at date

[**--visibility** **<strings>**](#visibility)

Filter based on repository visibility: {public|private|internal}

[**-w**, **--web**](#w)

Open the search query in the web browser

# [JSON FIELDS](#JSON_FIELDS)

**assignees**, **author**, **authorAssociation**, **body**, **closedAt**, **commentsCount**, **createdAt**, **id**, **isLocked**, **isPullRequest**, **labels**, **number**, **repository**, **state**, **title**, **updatedAt**, **url**

# [EXIT CODES](#EXIT_CODES)

0: Successful execution

1: Error

2: Command canceled

4: Authentication required

NOTE: Specific commands may have additional exit codes. Refer to the command's help for more information.

# [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE)

```
# Search issues matching set of keywords "readme" and "typo"
$ gh search issues readme typo
# Search issues matching phrase "broken feature"
$ gh search issues "broken feature"
# Search issues using raw search qualifiers as separate arguments
$ gh search issues label:bug author:monalisa state:open
# Search issues and pull requests in cli organization
$ gh search issues --include-prs --owner=cli
# Search open issues assigned to yourself
$ gh search issues --assignee=@me --state=open
# Search issues with numerous comments
$ gh search issues --comments=">100"
# Search issues without label "bug"
$ gh search issues -- -label:bug
# Search issues only from un-archived repositories (default is all repositories)
$ gh search issues --owner github --archived=false
# Search issues using semantic (natural-language) ranking
$ gh search issues "feature broken on web" --search-type semantic
# Search issues using hybrid (keyword + semantic) ranking
$ gh search issues "feature broken" --search-type hybrid
```

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**gh-search(1)**](/man/os/gh/gh-search.1)

Oct 2026

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Document: gh-search-issues(1) from gh 2.102.0-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/cli/cli