Hmbown/CodeWhale · error · anyhow::Error

gh pr view #{number} failed: {stderr}

Error message

gh pr view #{number} failed: {stderr}

What it means

run_gh_pr_view() executes `gh pr view <N> [--repo R] --json title,body,baseRefName,headRefName,url` and bails with gh's stderr when the subprocess exits non-zero. The message is a pass-through: whatever gh reported — authentication required, PR not found, no repository access, network failure, rate limiting — appears verbatim after "gh pr view #N failed:".

Source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/lib.rs:8250

    head: String,
    url: String,
}

fn run_gh_pr_view(number: u32, repo: Option<&str>) -> Result<GhPullRequest> {
    let mut cmd = crate::dependencies::Gh::command()
        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("gh not found on PATH"))?;
    cmd.arg("pr").arg("view").arg(number.to_string());
    if let Some(r) = repo {
        cmd.arg("--repo").arg(r);
    }
    cmd.arg("--json")
        .arg("title,body,baseRefName,headRefName,url");
    let output = cmd
        .output()
        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to run `gh pr view`: {e}"))?;
    if !output.status.success() {
        let stderr = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).trim().to_string();
        bail!("gh pr view #{number} failed: {stderr}");
    }
    let raw = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).to_string();
    let value: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&raw)
        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("gh pr view returned non-JSON output: {e}"))?;
    let pick = |key: &str| {
        value
            .get(key)
            .and_then(serde_json::Value::as_str)
            .unwrap_or_default()
            .to_string()
    };
    Ok(GhPullRequest {
        title: pick("title"),
        body: pick("body"),
        base: pick("baseRefName"),
        head: pick("headRefName"),
        url: pick("url"),
    })

View on GitHub (pinned to 0c42157ee5)

Solutions

1. Run `gh pr view <N> --json title` yourself to see gh's raw error
2. Check auth: `gh auth status`, re-auth with `gh auth login` if expired
3. Verify the PR number exists and you have access (`gh pr list` or the browser)
4. In automation, pin `--repo owner/name` and use a fresh token

Example fix

// before
$ codewhale pr 999999
Error: gh pr view #999999 failed: ... Couldn't find PR ...

// after: reproduce raw, then fix the root cause
$ gh pr view 999999 --json title   # see gh's own error
$ gh auth status                   # re-auth if that is the cause

gh pr view "$N" --json url >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo 'gh cannot view this PR (auth? number? repo?)' >&2; exit 2; }
codewhale pr "$N"

if ! out=$(gh pr view "$N" --json title 2>gh.err); then
  echo "gh pr view #$N failed: $(cat gh.err)" >&2; exit 1
fi
codewhale pr "$N"

When it happens

Trigger: gh exits non-zero: expired or missing auth, a PR number that does not exist in the target repo, a wrong or inaccessible --repo, gh-side network failures, or rate limiting.

Common situations: CI token expired between runs; PR closed/deleted or number typo'd; --repo pointing at a fork without that PR; flaky network.

Related errors

• `gh` CLI not found on PATH. Install GitHub CLI (https://cli.
• gh pr diff #{number} failed: {stderr}
• gh pr checkout #{number} failed: {stderr}
• NotFound
• 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/6df26cb82a75e1f0. Report an issue: GitHub.