ghnew

Create a GitHub (or GHE) repo, ghq get it, and offer to copy the cd command — in one shot. Keyboard-driven account selection, automatic SSH/HTTPS protocol detection, stable JSON output for agent use.

┌ ghnew
│ creating private repo on github.com…
│ ✓ created alice/my-app
│ cloning via https…
│ ✓ cloned
└

╭─ next ──────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                     │
│  cd "/Users/alice/projects/github.com/alice/my-app" │
│                                                     │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
   press c to copy · any other key to exit

What it does

1. Reads every authenticated account from gh auth status --json hosts (GitHub.com + every GHE you're logged into).
2. You pick one with the arrow keys, or specify it non-interactively.
3. Runs gh repo create <owner>/<name> against the right host (via GH_HOST env, default --private --add-readme).
4. Runs ghq get with SSH or HTTPS automatically based on each host's gitProtocol setting.
5. Prints cd "<path>" in a box. Press c to copy it to your clipboard (pbcopy / wl-copy / xclip / OSC 52 over SSH-tmux).

Prereqs

• gh >= 2.40 (uses gh auth status --json hosts)
• ghq
• Node.js >= 20.12

If gh or ghq are missing, ghnew offers to brew install them. If you're not logged into gh, it offers to launch gh auth login.

Install

npm i -g ghnew

Then add the shell integration, so ghnew moves your shell instead of printing a command to paste:

# zsh  — ~/.zshrc
eval "$(command ghnew --init zsh)"

# bash — ~/.bashrc
eval "$(command ghnew --init bash)"

# fish — ~/.config/fish/config.fish
command ghnew --init fish | source

command matters: ghnew defines a shell function with its own name, so on a second source ~/.zshrc the function would answer, capture the --init output and try to cd into it. command skips functions and goes to the binary.

Or run without installing (slower on first run because npx cold-starts):

npx --yes ghnew my-new-app
eval "$(npx -y ghnew --init zsh)"     # integration, without a global install

Why the extra line

A child process cannot change its parent shell's working directory, so ghnew on its own can only tell you where the repo landed — which it does, in a copyable box with c to copy. --init emits a shell function, and a function runs inside your shell, so it can cd. Same mechanism as zoxide, and the same one used by ghqcd, gwqcd, gwqpull and gwqadd.

The box is still there when you run npx ghnew without the integration.

Use

Interactive

ghnew                  # prompts for repo name and account
ghnew my-new-app       # prompts only for account (skipped if you have one)

Non-interactive (--remote shorthand)

ghnew --remote github.com/alice my-app
ghnew --remote git.acme.com/bob --public --description "Demo" my-tool

--remote HOST/LOGIN is shorthand for --host HOST --account LOGIN.

Flags

| Flag | Effect | |---|---| | --public | create a public repo (default: private) | | --internal | create an org-internal repo | | --description <text> | repo description (last value wins) | | --host <host> | choose host non-interactively | | --account <login> | choose account non-interactively | | --remote <host>/<login> | shorthand for --host + --account | | --json | stdout = 1-line JSON, no prompts, no keypress | | --quiet | stdout = path only, no prompts, no keypress | | --no-copy-prompt | skip the "press c to copy" phase | | --no-color / NO_COLOR | disable ANSI colors | | -h, --help, -V, --version | usage / version |

When <name>, --host, and --account are all provided, ghnew runs fully non-interactively — no prompts, no keypress — so it's safe to call from scripts and CI.

Scripting

# Capture the local path:
path=$(ghnew --quiet --remote github.com/alice my-tool)
cd "$path"

# Or with --json + jq:
ghnew --json --remote github.com/alice my-tool | jq -r .path

Exit codes

| Code | Meaning | |---|---| | 0 | success | | 1 | validation / generic failure (E_VALIDATION, E_GH_CREATE, E_GHQ_GET) | | 2 | gh not authenticated, or --account not in authenticated list (E_AUTH) | | 127 | gh or ghq missing (E_DEPS) | | 130 | interrupted via Ctrl-C (E_INTERRUPTED) |

In --json mode, errors are also reported as {"schemaVersion":1,"error":{"code":"E_*","message":"…"},"exitCode":N} on stderr.

For AI agents

ghnew ships with a Claude Code skill that teaches an agent how to call the CLI safely (non-interactive --json mode, default-to-private visibility, error handling).

Install the skill (recommended)

Use the skills CLI — it clones the repo, discovers the bundled SKILL.md, and registers it for you:

npx skills add -y -g https://github.com/ryoshin0830/ghnew

• -y / --yes: skip the interactive agent picker (avoids a known bug in the picker when more than one target is detected).
• -g / --global: install into ~/.claude/skills/ so the skill is available in every session, not just the current project.

After installing, restart Claude Code once so the new skill directory is registered. Subsequent edits to SKILL.md reload live.

If you want the skill only inside a specific project, omit -g and run the command from that project's root — it will install under .claude/skills/ of the current directory.

Manual install (no skills CLI)

If you'd rather not run the skills CLI, clone the repo and symlink:

ghq get https://github.com/ryoshin0830/ghnew
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
ln -s "$(ghq list -e -p github.com/ryoshin0830/ghnew)/.claude/skills/ghnew" \
      ~/.claude/skills/ghnew

Recommended agent call

npx -y ghnew@^0.2 --json --remote <host>/<login> --description "..." <name>

Pin to ^0.2, not @latest, so future major bumps don't silently break the agent. The JSON output schema is documented in .claude/skills/ghnew/SKILL.md.

Security

• No preinstall / postinstall scripts in package.json. npm install --ignore-scripts works fine. (This package intentionally avoids the install-script vector used by the Shai-Hulud npm worm.)
• The runtime is plain ESM in bin/ghnew.mjs. Single runtime dep: @inquirer/prompts.
• nvm users: npm i -g ghnew only installs into the currently active Node version. Pin with .nvmrc or reinstall after nvm use.

Troubleshooting

• "non-TTY stdin" — you're piping into ghnew or running it under a process that doesn't allocate a TTY. Provide --remote and <name>, or add --json / --quiet to opt into the non-interactive contract.
• gh repo create fails with "Name already exists" — pick a different name. ghnew does not auto-suffix.
• ghq get clones via HTTPS but you wanted SSH — set the host's protocol with gh config set git_protocol ssh --host <host>, then re-run.
• Cursor disappears after a Ctrl-C — open a new shell or run printf '\e[?25h'. If you can reproduce, please open an issue.
• Clipboard didn't work over SSH — ghnew emits an OSC 52 escape that most modern terminal emulators understand; verify yours (iTerm2, WezTerm, Alacritty, etc.) has clipboard-from-app enabled.

Fallback

If the npm package is ever unavailable, run from GitHub:

npx --yes github:ryoshin0830/ghnew my-new-app

License

MIT — see LICENSE.