Private Github Search

---
name: private-github-search
description: "Full-text search across all of the user's GitHub repos (including private ones) using a local mirror and ripgrep. Use for \"where did I put X\", \"which repo has X\", or any search spanning the user's repos - gh search code / the REST API cannot reliably search private repos."
category: backend-and-data
source_repo: ykdojo/claude-code-tips
source_path: "skills/private-github-search/SKILL.md"
source_url: https://github.com/ykdojo/claude-code-tips/blob/HEAD/skills/private-github-search/SKILL.md
---


# Private GitHub search

GitHub's modern code search (the one that indexes private repos) is web-only; `gh search code` uses the legacy engine and often returns nothing for private repos. Instead, search a local mirror of all the user's repos - it covers the same content as GitHub's index (default branch, non-fork) and a full search takes milliseconds.

## Searching

Find the bundled sync script (works for plugin installs and manual symlinks):

```bash
find ~/.claude ~/.codex -name "private-github-search-sync.sh" 2>/dev/null | sort -V | tail -1
```

Always refresh first - it exits instantly if the mirror was synced within the last hour, and takes ~15s otherwise (`--force` syncs regardless of age):

```bash
bash <script-path>
rg -il 'pattern' ~/repo-mirror/repos          # which files
rg -in 'pattern' ~/repo-mirror/repos | head   # matching lines
```

## First-time setup

If `~/repo-mirror/owners.txt` doesn't exist: ask the user which GitHub accounts to mirror (don't guess - they may manage several), write them one per line to `~/repo-mirror/owners.txt`, then run the sync script in the background (initial clone takes a few minutes; needs `gh` auth with access to those accounts).

## Caveats

- Only the default-branch tip is mirrored - for history or other branches, use `git log -S` in a full clone or GitHub web search.
- The mirror may contain private data: keep it out of synced folders and never commit or publish its contents.

---

**Source:** [`ykdojo/claude-code-tips`](https://github.com/ykdojo/claude-code-tips) → `skills/private-github-search/SKILL.md`