search-existing-issues

Searches GitHub issues for matches to a free-text problem description.

11|1|Updated Jul 25, 2025

Search Tags:#github #search #issue tracking #gh cli #duplicate detection #bug triage #issue search

Ready to run

npx skills add https://github.com/tomzx/agents --skill search-existing-issues-tomzx

💬 Prompt for ChatGPT / Claude Chat▼

Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: search-existing-issues
Source: https://github.com/tomzx/agents/tree/main/skills/search-existing-issues
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/tomzx/agents --skill search-existing-issues-tomzx

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Before filing a new bug report or feature request, you need to know whether someone already reported it. Manually searching GitHub issues with the right keywords is slow and easy to get wrong, leading to duplicate issues that fragment discussion and waste maintainer time. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Keyword Extraction: Derives 2-4 targeted search term combinations from a raw problem description, prioritizing error messages, component names, and observable behavior. - Multi-Strategy Search: Runs several `ghx issue list` queries covering exact error strings, component-plus-behavior pairs, and broader fallbacks across open and closed issues. - Relevance Ranking and Recommendation: Scores candidates by matching signals, reads top issues in full, and recommends whether to comment on an existing issue, upgrade to a fixed version, or proceed with `/create-issue`. - Use Case: You hit a "ConnectionPool exhausted" error during bulk imports. Run this Skill with that description and it finds open issue #55 with the same error, so you add your reproduction details there instead of filing a duplicate. ## Quick Start Ask the agent to search existing issues for "ConnectionPool exhausted error during bulk imports" in the current repository before creating a new issue.

Frequently Asked Questions about search-existing-issues

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema

How do I check if a GitHub issue already exists before reporting a bug?▼

Provide a free-text description of the problem and the Skill extracts 2-4 keyword combinations, then runs multiple gh issue searches across open and closed issues. It ranks candidates by relevance and tells you whether to comment on an existing issue or create a new one.

How to search GitHub issues from the command line with gh CLI?▼

Use `ghx issue list --repo owner/repo --search "keywords" --state all --limit 10` to search issues by keywords. Quoting exact error messages in the search string improves precision for matching known bugs.

What is the difference between search-existing-issues and check-duplicates?▼

search-existing-issues starts from a raw natural-language problem description the user provides. check-duplicates takes an existing issue number as input, so it is used after an issue already exists rather than before creating one.

Does this work on repositories other than the current directory?▼

Yes, pass `--repo owner/repo` to target any repository your gh CLI authentication can read. Without it, the Skill infers the repository from the current git remote or `.sdlc/context/` files, and asks if neither is available.

Why does issue search return irrelevant results?▼

Generic terms like crash, error, or broken match too many issues. The Skill prioritizes unique identifiers such as exact error strings, stack trace excerpts, and function names, and excludes candidates that are clearly unrelated after reading their titles.