gh-update-pr

Update PR via REST API

gh pr edit is broken due to GitHub deprecating Projects Classic (projectCards GraphQL field error). Use the REST API instead. gh pr view and gh pr create still work fine — only gh pr edit is affected.

Rules

1. Never use gh pr edit to update PR title or body. It will fail with a GraphQL error.
2. Use gh api with the REST endpoint. Always pipe JSON via jq --arg to avoid shell injection:

   jq -n --arg title "..." --arg body "..." '{title: $title, body: $body}' | \
     gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/{number} -X PATCH --input - --jq '.html_url'
   

3. Get the current PR context before updating:

   gh pr view --json number,url,baseRefName
   

4. Omit unchanged fields. If only updating the title, do not include body in the JSON payload, and vice versa. Including an unchanged field risks overwriting it with stale content.

Verification procedure

1. After the PATCH request, confirm it returned the PR's html_url (not an error).
2. Run gh pr view --json title,body and verify the updated fields match what was intended.

Common mistakes to watch for

• Including both title and body when only one changed. This can overwrite the other field with stale or empty content. Only include the field being updated.
• Running outside a git repo with a tracking branch. gh pr view needs repo context. If it fails, pass --repo owner/repo explicitly.
• Forgetting to extract owner/repo/number. Always fetch these from gh pr view first — do not hardcode or assume them.