Hmbown/CodeWhale · error · anyhow::Error

`gh` CLI not found on PATH. Install GitHub CLI (https://cli.

Error message

`gh` CLI not found on PATH. Install GitHub CLI (https://cli.github.com) and authenticate (`gh auth login`) so `codewhale pr <N>` can fetch PR metadata and the diff.

What it means

run_pr() shells out to GitHub's `gh` for PR metadata and diff; its first act is an is_command_available("gh") check that bails with install/auth instructions when gh is not on PATH. Note the doc comment above the function claims it "falls back gracefully if gh is missing", but the implementation hard-fails — the comment is stale.

Source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/lib.rs:8155

    } else {
        "invalid"
    }
}

/// `codewhale pr <N>` (#451) — fetch a GitHub PR via `gh`, format
/// title + body + diff as the composer's first message, and launch
/// the interactive TUI. Falls back gracefully if `gh` is missing.
async fn run_pr(
    cli: &Cli,
    config: &Config,
    number: u32,
    repo: Option<&str>,
    checkout: bool,
    pending_telemetry_notice: Option<crate::telemetry_notice::PendingTelemetryNotice>,
    plugin_registry: Arc<crate::plugins::PluginRegistry>,
) -> Result<()> {
    if !is_command_available("gh") {
        bail!(
            "`gh` CLI not found on PATH. Install GitHub CLI \
             (https://cli.github.com) and authenticate (`gh auth login`) \
             so `codewhale pr <N>` can fetch PR metadata and the diff."
        );
    }

    let view = run_gh_pr_view(number, repo)?;
    let diff = run_gh_pr_diff(number, repo)?;

    if checkout {
        match run_gh_pr_checkout(number, repo) {
            Ok(()) => eprintln!("Checked out PR #{number} into the current workspace."),
            Err(err) => eprintln!(
                "warning: gh pr checkout #{number} failed ({err}). Continuing without checkout."
            ),
        }
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 0c42157ee5)

Solutions

1. Install GitHub CLI (https://cli.github.com — e.g. `brew install gh` or your distro package)
2. Authenticate with `gh auth login`
3. Verify with `command -v gh` inside the same shell/environment codewhale runs in

Example fix

// before
$ codewhale pr 42
Error: `gh` CLI not found on PATH. Install GitHub CLI ...

// after
$ brew install gh   # or: apt install gh / dnf install gh
$ gh auth login
$ codewhale pr 42

command -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo 'gh missing: install from https://cli.github.com' >&2; exit 2; }
gh auth status >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo 'run: gh auth login' >&2; exit 2; }
codewhale pr "$N"

When it happens

Trigger: `codewhale pr <N>` on a machine where the gh binary is not installed or not on PATH (the check is name-based, so a shadowed or non-executable gh also fails).

Common situations: Fresh container or CI image without gh; gh installed for a different user or via a PATH not propagated into the session; minimal dev images.

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

• gh pr view #{number} failed: {stderr}
• NotFound
• gh pr diff #{number} failed: {stderr}
• tmux attach unavailable
• release redirect did not resolve to a tag URL: {final_url}

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@0c42157ee5 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/386d430cd0aaa52d. Report an issue: GitHub.