GitHub

Interact with GitHub repositories, issues, and pull requests

Overview

GitHub tool allows you to search repositories, manage issues, and interact with GitHub’s API.

The user asks about a repo or issue; the agent calls the GitHub API and returns the answer.

Installation

pip install "praisonai[tools]"

Environment Variables

export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_personal_access_token

Get your token from GitHub Settings.

Quick Start

1. Simple Usage

   from praisonai_tools import GitHubTool
   
   # Initialize
   github = GitHubTool()
   
   # Search repos
   results = github.search_repos("machine learning python")
   print(results)
   
2. With Configuration

   Use the same tool with an agent — see Usage with Agent below, or pass env vars and options from the sections above.

Usage with Agent

from praisonaiagents import Agent
from praisonai_tools import GitHubTool

agent = Agent(
    name="DevAssistant",
    instructions="You help with GitHub tasks.",
    tools=[GitHubTool()]
)

response = agent.chat("Find popular Python AI frameworks on GitHub")
print(response)

Available Methods

search_repos(query, limit=10)

Search GitHub repositories.

from praisonai_tools import GitHubTool

github = GitHubTool()
repos = github.search_repos("langchain", limit=5)

get_repo(owner, repo)

Get repository details.

repo = github.get_repo("MervinPraison", "PraisonAI")

list_issues(owner, repo, state=“open”)

List repository issues.

issues = github.list_issues("MervinPraison", "PraisonAI", state="open")

create_issue(owner, repo, title, body)

Create a new issue.

github.create_issue("owner", "repo", "Bug: Something broken", "Description here")

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
GITHUB_TOKEN not configured	Missing token	Set environment variable
Rate limited	Too many requests	Use authenticated requests
Not found	Repo doesn’t exist	Check owner/repo name

How It Works

---

Best Practices

Use a scoped token

Read the GitHub token from the environment and grant only the scopes the task needs.

Handle rate limits

GitHub throttles unauthenticated and heavy requests. Authenticate and retry with backoff.

Paginate large results

Fetch issues and commits in pages so the agent processes manageable chunks.

---

Related Tools

Bitbucket

Bitbucket repos

Linear

Issue tracking

Jira

Project management