# GitHub CLI 49 Hacker News commenters recommended GitHub CLI and 45 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Lets you do most GitHub tasks from the terminal, and coding agents use it for PRs and CI. Main caveat: the telemetry rollout and plaintext credential storage. ## Why people recommend it - Lets coding agents use it for PRs (8 comments): "My agents can now attach screenshots and screen captures to PRs they create directly, without using workarounds or third party services" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49529875)) "You can use it to auth with GITHUB_TOKEN instead of ssh or http. Which is how my agents get access." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47863022)) "Combined with the GitHub CLI, this gives agents everything they need to achieve the same result." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46664278)) - Does most GitHub tasks from terminal (7 comments): "gh is insanely powerful, especially if you let your coding agent use it. It’s one of my top tools." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47863029)) "just about anything I'd want to do on GitHub, I can do straight from the command line" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49318913)) "the GitHub CLI is quite good and helps automate many things in GitHub" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769065)) - Cheaper and better than GitHub MCP (4 comments): "the github cli is very robust and does the job of the MCP with a fraction of the token cost" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47205866)) "gh cli and linear mcp is enough for any model to get most of the why context" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47331091)) "Using the gh CLI worked far better than the GitHub MCP." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46959732)) - Good auth flows (3 comments): "You can use it to auth with GITHUB_TOKEN instead of ssh or http. Which is how my agents get access." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47863022)) "gh and claude code itself have some of the nicest auth flows i've experienced" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48169850)) "the GitHub CLI's Login with HTTPS [4] to do repository push/pull." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46264390)) ## What people warn about - Telemetry collects pseudonymous usage data (7 comments): "Reading the justification the main thing they seem to want to know is if gh is being driven by a human or an agent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47864703)) "restore flags that have been "accidentally" reset and set any new flags that they added for "different" telemetry" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47862902)) "I do not trust Microsoft with any telemetry, I am not invested in helping them improve their product" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47867250)) - Plaintext OAuth token storage (3 comments): "I wouldn't say that's better. Now your .config directory contains a github token that can do more than just repo pull/push" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46266327)) "Make sure the gh cli isn’t storing oauth credentials in plaintext as it can silently do." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46269110)) "stores a highly privileged OAuth token in plain text in the HOME directory" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46076888)) - Worry about forced CLI dependence (3 comments): "Why does github need a CLI? Some people just seem to want to make their own lives harder..." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47866893)) "I give it five years before the GH CLI is the only way to interact with GitHub repos." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47863147)) "already it seems to be a pain to deal with some repos on github without using gh" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47866103)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [fzf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fzf.md): 78 recommend - [jq](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jq.md): 75 recommend - [grep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grep.md): 65 recommend - [Atuin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atuin.md): 63 recommend - [ImageMagick](https://hackerapproved.com/p/imagemagick.md): 37 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "GitHub CLI", https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-cli/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).