Export GitHub Issues to Excel with GitHub CLI Tool

Ayyaz

@AyyazTech

Introduction: 

As developers and project managers, keeping track of issues and tasks is crucial for maintaining a smooth workflow and ensuring timely delivery. GitHub, being one of the most popular version control platforms, provides a robust issue tracking system. However, there may be situations where you need to export your GitHub issues to an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis, reporting, or sharing with stakeholders. In this article, we'll walk you through a simple and efficient method to export your GitHub issues to Excel using the GitHub CLI tool.

Step 1: Install GitHub CLI Before we begin, make sure you have the GitHub CLI tool installed on your system. If you haven't already, you can easily install it by running the following command in your terminal:

brew install gh

This command will download and install the GitHub CLI on your machine, enabling you to interact with GitHub from the command line.

Step 2: Authenticate with GitHub Once you have the GitHub CLI installed, you need to authenticate it with your GitHub account. Run the following command in your terminal:

gh auth login

You will be prompted to log in to your GitHub account. Follow the instructions provided by the CLI to complete the authentication process.

Step 3: Navigate to Your Repository Using the terminal, navigate to the local directory of the repository for which you want to export the issues. Make sure you have the necessary permissions to access the repository.

Step 4: Export Issues to CSV Now comes the exciting part! Run the following command to export your GitHub issues to a CSV file:

gh issue list --limit 1000 --state all | tr '	' ',' > issues.csv

Let's break down what this command does:

• gh issue list retrieves the list of issues from the repository.
• --limit 1000 specifies the maximum number of issues to fetch. You can adjust this number according to your needs.
• --state all includes both open and closed issues in the export.
• | tr ' ' ',' converts the tab-separated output to comma-separated values (CSV).
• > issues.csv redirects the output to a file named issues.csv.

After running this command, you will have a file named issues.csv in your current directory, containing all the exported issues.

Step 5: Open the CSV File in Excel Finally, open the issues.csv file in Microsoft Excel or your preferred spreadsheet software. You can now analyze, sort, filter, and manipulate the issue data as needed.

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Conclusion: Exporting GitHub issues to Excel is a straightforward process that can save you time and effort in managing and analyzing your project's issues. By following the steps outlined in this article and utilizing the GitHub CLI tool, you can easily export your issues to a CSV file and open it in Excel for further manipulation.

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Happy issue exporting and happy coding!