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How can we search and filter issues and pull requests on GitHub? GitHub’s search bar is a powerful filtering engine. While the UI provides handy dropdowns for authors, labels, and states, typing queries directly into the search box unlocks far more precise results. This guide explains the most useful qualifiers, shows examples you can copy, and gives quick tips for personal and team workflows.

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Why type queries instead of using the UI?

Typing queries lets you:
  • Combine multiple qualifiers for very focused results.
  • Search specific fields (title, body, comments).
  • Exclude items with the NOT operator.
  • Save time with reusable queries for your workflow or team dashboards.

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Common qualifiers and how to use them

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Quick, copy-ready search queries

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How these examples work (short explanations)

  • is:issue is:open — shows open issues only.
  • assignee:@me — restricts results to items assigned to the signed-in user.
  • is:closed is:pr author:contoso — finds closed pull requests created by the user contoso.
  • is:pr in:comments sidebar — finds pull requests where the term sidebar appears specifically in comments.
  • label:bug -linked:pr — finds open bug issues that do not have any linked pull request (useful to identify work that still needs a code change).
Tips:
  • Use assignee:@me to quickly surface what you need to work on.
  • Combine author:<username> and is:closed to review a teammate’s completed work.
  • in:comments is useful for finding context or discussion that isn’t in the title or body.

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Advanced tips for team workflows

  • Save frequent searches as browser bookmarks or GitHub saved filters for dashboards.
  • Combine time qualifiers (e.g., created:>2023-01-01) to scope searches by date.
  • Use labels consistently across the repo so queries like label:bug reliably surface relevant issues.
Mastering these qualifiers helps you cut through noise and surface the exact work items you need to track, review, or act on.

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