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.

Diagram

Installation

bash

pip install "praisonai[tools]"

Environment Variables

bash

export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_personal_access_token

Get your token from GitHub Settings.

Quick Start

Simple Usage

python

from praisonai_tools import GitHubTool

# Initialize
github = GitHubTool()

# Search repos
results = github.search_repos("machine learning python")
print(results)

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

python

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.

python

from praisonai_tools import GitHubTool

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

get_repo(owner, repo)

Get repository details.

python

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

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

List repository issues.

python

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

create_issue(owner, repo, title, body)

Create a new issue.

python

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

Diagram

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

Slack

Team messaging and notifications

Linear

Issue tracking

Jira

Project management