Review GitHub Work Across Repositories with gh status

You will use gh status to get one report of GitHub work that matters to you, then narrow it when the all-repositories view is too noisy. The command covers assigned issues, assigned pull requests, review requests, mentions and recent activity in repositories you are subscribed to. Allow about five minutes for a first run, plus time to authenticate if GitHub CLI is not already configured.

This guide describes GitHub CLI 2.87.3, installed from the local gh package on the machine used for these checks. The installed manual page is dated March 2026. The command is read-only: it queries GitHub and prints a report, so these examples do not alter issues, pull requests, notifications or repository settings.

1. Check the installed command

Start with ordinary, unprivileged checks. You do not need sudo to inspect the version or help:

$ command -v gh
/usr/bin/gh
$ gh --version
gh version 2.87.3 (2026-02-23)
$ gh status --help
USAGE
  gh status [flags]

The help output documents two options: --exclude, which takes a repository name in owner/name form, and --org, which limits the report to an organisation. There is no repository positional argument in the command syntax.

2. Run the complete subscribed-repository report

With GitHub CLI authenticated and network access available, run:

$ gh status

The command prints sections for assigned issues, assigned pull requests, review requests, mentions and repository activity. Repository activity includes new issues or pull requests and comments. The list is account-specific, so there is no useful universal sample output to copy: an empty section can simply mean that there is no matching work for your account.

This first report is a useful baseline. Read the headings before acting on any item, particularly when a mention or review request is old or relates to a repository you no longer work on. gh status is a summary command, not an approval, review, merge or comment command.

3. Limit the report to one organisation

When you belong to several organisations, focus the report with --org and the organisation name:

$ gh status --org ORGANISATION_NAME

Replace ORGANISATION_NAME with the exact organisation identifier, for example:

$ gh status -o acme-tools

The short option -o and long option --org are equivalent. This filter changes the report scope; it does not switch your account, change a repository's organisation or update any GitHub setting.

4. Exclude repositories that create noise

Use --exclude with an owner/name repository identifier. The option can be repeated, which is clearer than building a long, hard-to-review value:

$ gh status --exclude cli/cli --exclude cli/go-gh

You can combine exclusions with an organisation filter:

$ gh status --org acme-tools --exclude acme-tools/archive --exclude acme-tools/sandbox

Use the repository's owner and name, not its web URL, local directory name or a display title. If an exclusion appears ineffective, check the exact owner/name spelling in the repository URL and rerun the command. Excluding a repository only hides it from this report. It does not unsubscribe you, close notifications or change repository access.

5. Keep the result safe to share

The report reflects your GitHub account and can include repository names, issue or pull request subjects, mentions and review context. Treat terminal scrollback, copied output and saved logs as potentially sensitive. Share only the section needed for the task, and remove private repository names or ticket details before putting the output in a public issue or chat.

Do not solve an authentication problem by pasting a token into a shell command or into a log. Use GitHub CLI's normal authentication workflow outside this guide, then rerun gh status. No elevated privilege is useful here: sudo gh status can select a different configuration and does not grant the GitHub permissions that the command needs.

6. Diagnose a surprising or failed report

First confirm the command and options locally:

$ gh status --help
$ gh --version

If help works but the report fails, check the basics without changing anything: confirm that the machine has network access, confirm that GitHub CLI is authenticated for the account you intend to use, and check the exact organisation or repository spelling. Rerun the smallest relevant command after each check:

$ gh status --org ORGANISATION_NAME
$ gh status --exclude OWNER/REPOSITORY

If the focused command works but the broad report does not, keep the filters and investigate the failing scope separately. If the report is merely too large, filtering is the recovery: there is no persistent setting to undo, because these flags affect only the current invocation.

Do not infer that an empty category means GitHub has deleted anything. The command reports the work visible to the authenticated account and the selected scope at the time of the request. For a current result, run it again rather than relying on an old copied report.