Troubleshooting

Start with gh select doctor. It checks git, gh and your login, and works when nothing else does.

gh select is not foundCopy Anchor Link

List your extensions and reinstall when gh-select is missing:

gh extension list
gh extension install remcostoeten/gh-select

A standalone binary is run as gh-select, not gh select.

Icons show as empty boxesCopy Anchor Link

The icons are Nerd Font glyphs and need a Nerd Font in your terminal. Use words instead, for one run or for good:

gh select --icons none
export GH_SELECT_ICONS=none

The list is out of dateCopy Anchor Link

The list is cached for 30 minutes and refreshes in the background when older. Force a refetch:

gh select -n         # open with fresh data
gh select refresh    # refetch and exit

Lower GH_SELECT_CACHE_TTL to shorten the window. A repository you just created appears after the next refresh.

A cloned repository is not tagged localCopy Anchor Link

• The scan runs in the background and the tags appear when it finishes. The first run after install has no locals.json yet.
• The repository is matched by its git remote. A clone with no origin pointing at github.com, or with a different owner than the listed repository, does not match.
• Folders such as node_modules, vendor, target, dist, build and venv are skipped, and so are hidden folders other than .config and .dotfiles.
• Clones deeper than five levels under your home directory are missed. Add their parent folder to GH_SELECT_SCAN_DIRS.

Authentication failsCopy Anchor Link

could not authenticate with GitHub (run gh auth login) means gh has no token for the default host.

gh auth login
gh auth status

For GitHub Enterprise, make sure the host you want is the default one in gh.

Delete is refusedCopy Anchor Link

Deleting needs the delete_repo scope, which gh auth login does not grant:

gh auth refresh -s delete_repo

Only repositories you own can be marked. See Deleting repositories.

Search stops returning resultsCopy Anchor Link

GitHub search has its own, small budget of 30 requests per minute, shared with every tool using your login. See where you stand:

gh select limits

Wait for the window to reset, which the output shows. Typing pauses 350 ms before a search fires, so a slower typing speed uses fewer requests.

Copy does nothingCopy Anchor Link

gh-select tries pbcopy, clip.exe, wl-copy, xclip and xsel in that order. On Linux install wl-clipboard for Wayland or xclip for X11. Without any, the value is printed with (clipboard not available) or no clipboard tool found.

The theme will not saveCopy Anchor Link

ctrl+t saves to ~/.config/gh-select/theme. It cannot save while --theme or GH_SELECT_THEME is set, and says (not saved: --theme or GH_SELECT_THEME is set). Unset the variable or change its value.

A saved theme that has since been deleted is ignored with a note in the footer.

A custom theme does not loadCopy Anchor Link

The footer names the file and the problem. Colors must be six-digit hex with a leading #, slot names are lowercase, and extends must name an existing theme. See the theme file reference.

The update notice never goes awayCopy Anchor Link

The notice shows while a newer release than your version exists. Upgrade:

gh extension upgrade gh-select

To hide it, set GH_SELECT_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1.

Clone says the folder already existsCopy Anchor Link

gh-select refuses to clone onto an existing folder rather than let git fail halfway. Remove the folder, choose a different clone directory with -d, or use Clone again from the menu of an already cloned repository.

Reporting a bugCopy Anchor Link

Press ? on an empty search and then i to open a new issue. Include the output of gh select version and gh select doctor.