GitHub Workflow Cheat Sheet

GitHub collaboration workflow — Pull Requests, code reviews, Issues, Projects, Actions CI/CD basics, and repository management.

Last Updated: May 1, 2025

Pull Requests

git push -u origin feature-branch

Push branch and set upstream before creating PR

gh pr create --title Title --body Description

Create a Pull Request via GitHub CLI

gh pr checkout 123

Check out a PR locally for review

gh pr diff 123

View the diff of a PR from the terminal

gh pr review 123 --approve

Approve a PR via GitHub CLI

gh pr review 123 --request-changes

Request changes on a PR

gh pr merge 123 --squash

Merge a PR with squash strategy

gh pr list --state open

List all open pull requests

Code Review Best Practices

Item	Description
`Draft PRs`	Open PRs as drafts for early feedback, convert when ready
`Small PRs`	Keep PRs under 400 lines — easier to review, fewer bugs
`Review Checklist`	Does it work? Is it tested? Is it readable? Is it secure?
`Inline Suggestions`	Use GitHub's suggestion feature to propose exact code changes
`CI Must Pass`	Configure branch protection to require CI checks before merge
`Review in Order`	Review commits individually for logical progression
`Request Specific Reviewers`	Assign domain experts rather than broad teams
`Respond to All Comments`	Address or discuss every review comment before merging

Issues & Projects

Item	Description
`Labels`	Use consistent labels: bug, enhancement, documentation, good-first-issue
`Issue Templates`	Create .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ for bug reports and feature requests
`Milestones`	Group issues into milestones to track progress toward releases
`Projects (Beta)`	Kanban boards for sprint planning and task management
`Auto-close Keywords`	Include 'Fixes #123' in commit messages to auto-close issues
`Issue Forms`	Use YAML issue forms for structured data collection
`Task Lists`	Use - [ ] checkboxes to break issues into subtasks
`Assignees`	Assign issues to team members for clear ownership

GitHub Actions CI/CD

name: CI on: push

Basic workflow trigger — runs on every push

runs-on: ubuntu-latest

Specify runner OS for the job

actions/checkout@v4

Standard action to check out repository code

actions/setup-node@v4

Setup action for Node.js environment

npm test

Run test suite in CI pipeline

secrets.NPM_TOKEN

Access repository secrets in workflow files

on: pull_request

Trigger workflow on PR open, sync, or reopen

matrix: node-version: [16,18,20]

Test across multiple versions with matrix strategy

Pro Tip: Use Draft Pull Requests for early feedback. Switch to 'Ready for Review' when your code is complete — reviewers won't be notified until then.