(This is an English translation of my original Japanese article: 日本語版はこちら: https://blog.shibayu36.org/entry/2026/03/09/173000 )

When I use gh api from Claude Code to fetch information from GitHub, a permission prompt pops up every single time, which is painful. Even a harmless command like the one below — just listing commits — needs my approval each run.

gh api "repos/anthropics/claude-code/commits?per_page=100&page=1"

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But blanket-allowing gh api for convenience feels scary. The gh command can also do write operations like creating issues or merging PRs, so there's a real risk of unintended changes. I kept thinking: I wish I could allow only readonly operations.

While looking for a workaround, I found that the gh command supports switching profiles via the GH_CONFIG_DIR environment variable.…