gh-load-issue

A CLI tool to download GitHub issues and convert them to markdown - perfect for AI processing and offline analysis. Automatically downloads embedded images to prevent "Could not process image" errors when using with Claude Code CLI.

Features

• 📥 Download Issues: Fetch complete GitHub issues with all comments
• 📷 Image Downloading: Automatically download and validate embedded images
• 📝 Markdown Export: Convert issues to well-formatted markdown files
• 📊 JSON Export: Export structured data for programmatic use
• 🔐 Smart Authentication: Automatic GitHub CLI integration or token support
• ⚡ Simple CLI: Easy-to-use command-line interface
• 🎯 Flexible Input: Support for full URLs or short format (owner/repo#123)
• ✅ Image Validation: Validates downloaded images by checking magic bytes

Quick Start

# Download issue using full URL
gh-load-issue https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/123

# Download issue using short format
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123

# Save to specific file
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 -o my-issue.md

# Export as JSON
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --format json

# Skip image downloading
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --no-download-images

# Use specific GitHub token
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --token ghp_xxx

Installation

Global Installation (Recommended)

Install globally for system-wide access:

# Using bun
bun install -g gh-load-issue

# Using npm
npm install -g gh-load-issue

# After installation, use anywhere:
gh-load-issue --help

Uninstall

Remove the global installation:

# Using bun
bun uninstall -g gh-load-issue

# Using npm
npm uninstall -g gh-load-issue

Local Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/link-foundation/gh-load-issue.git
cd gh-load-issue

# Make the script executable
chmod +x gh-load-issue.mjs

# Run it
./gh-load-issue.mjs --help

Usage

Usage: gh-load-issue <issue-url> [options]

Options:
      --version          Show version number
  -t, --token            GitHub personal access token (optional for public issues)
  -o, --output           Output directory or file path (default: current directory)
      --download-images  Download embedded images (default: true)
  -f, --format           Output format: markdown, json (default: markdown)
  -v, --verbose          Enable verbose logging
  -h, --help             Show help

Image Handling

The tool automatically downloads and validates all images found in issues:

Supported Image Formats

• PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP
• BMP, ICO, SVG

Image Features

• Automatic Download: Images in both markdown (![alt](url)) and HTML (<img src>) syntax are detected
• Magic Bytes Validation: Images are validated by content, not just file extension
• GitHub Authentication: Uses your GitHub token for private repository images
• Redirect Handling: Properly follows S3 signed URLs and other redirects
• Error Handling: Gracefully handles missing/expired URLs with warnings
• Local References: Markdown is updated to reference downloaded images

Output Structure

issue-123.md              # Issue body and comments in markdown
issue-123-images/         # Directory with downloaded images
  image-1.png
  image-2.jpg
issue-123.json            # Optional JSON export (with --format json)

Authentication

The tool supports multiple authentication methods for accessing private issues:

1. GitHub CLI (Recommended)

If you have GitHub CLI installed and authenticated, the script will automatically use your credentials:

# Authenticate with GitHub CLI (one-time setup)
gh auth login

# Script automatically detects and uses gh CLI authentication
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123  # Works with private issues!

2. Environment Variable

Set the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable:

export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123

3. Command Line Token

Pass the token directly with --token:

gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --token ghp_your_token_here

Authentication Priority

The script uses this fallback chain:

1. --token command line argument (highest priority)
2. GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
3. GitHub CLI authentication (if gh is installed and authenticated)
4. No authentication (public issues only)

Examples

# Basic usage - download a public issue
gh-load-issue https://github.com/torvalds/linux/issues/123

# Use short format
gh-load-issue torvalds/linux#123

# Download private issue (using GitHub CLI auth)
gh-load-issue myorg/private-repo#456

# Save to specific location
gh-load-issue owner/repo#789 --output ./issues/issue-789.md

# Export as JSON for programmatic use
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --format json

# Verbose mode for debugging
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --verbose

# Skip image download (faster, text only)
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --no-download-images

# Use explicit token
gh-load-issue owner/repo#123 --token ghp_your_token_here

Output Format

Markdown Output

The generated markdown file includes:

• Issue Title - As the main heading
• Metadata - Issue number, author, state, dates, labels, assignees, milestone
• Description - The issue body content with local image references
• Comments - All comments with author and timestamp

Example output structure:

# Issue Title

**Issue:** #123
**Author:** @username
**State:** open
**Created:** 1/1/2025, 12:00:00 PM
**Updated:** 1/2/2025, 3:30:00 PM
**Labels:** `bug`, `enhancement`

---

## Description

[Issue body content with local image references]

![screenshot](issue-123-images/image-1.png)

---

## Comments (2)

### Comment 1 by @user1

_Posted on 1/1/2025, 2:00:00 PM_

[Comment content here]

---

### Comment 2 by @user2

_Posted on 1/2/2025, 3:30:00 PM_

[Comment content here]

JSON Output

The JSON format includes:

• Full issue data (title, body, state, labels, etc.)
• All comments with metadata
• Image download results (downloaded, failed, skipped)
• Download metadata (timestamp, tool version)

Requirements

• Bun (>=1.2.0) or Node.js (>=20.0.0) runtime
• For private issues (optional):
  • GitHub CLI (recommended) OR
  • GitHub personal access token (via --token or GITHUB_TOKEN env var)

Testing

The project includes a test suite:

# Run all tests
npm test

# Or run directly
cd tests
./test-all.mjs

Use Cases

• AI Processing: Download issues with images for AI analysis without "Could not process image" errors
• Claude Code CLI: Perfect companion for using issues with Claude Code
• Offline Access: Keep local copies of important issues for reference
• Documentation: Export issues as markdown for documentation purposes
• Backup: Archive issues before repository changes or migrations
• Analysis: Collect issues for trend analysis or reporting

Rate Limits

• Unauthenticated: 60 requests per hour (public issues only)
• Authenticated: 5,000 requests per hour (includes private issues)
• Authentication is automatically handled if GitHub CLI is set up

License

This project is released into the public domain under The Unlicense - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! This is an MVP implementation focusing on core functionality.

Related Projects

• gh-pull-all - Sync all repositories from a GitHub organization or user