GitHub CLI in workflow - Can't get project items

[zsloane]

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I am trying to work with projects/issues in a workflow via the GH cli (both with gh api grapql and via gh project item-list. I have done many similar things before but all of a sudden every time I ask for the items in a project it just get:

I am using an app token to authenticate and I have confirmed it has access to the repo that the issues are in as well as the correct permissions:

There are definitely issues in the project so that's not it and if I call gh issue view with one of the issues I know is in the project that works just fine. I can also read all the information about the project such as all the custom fields etc but the items list is just empty.

Has anyone ever run in to anything like this? Like I said I have used gh project item-list in actions with this app authentication before and it worked fine. I might have changed some settings on the app so if anyone can point me in a direction that would be awesome

[Arashkazemii]

You can try the following:

1. Use gh project list first to get the exact project ID.
2. Run gh project item-list <PROJECT-ID> with that ID instead of just the project number or URL.
3. Make sure the token has the correct scopes — not only repo, but also read:project (or project access if it’s an org project).
4. If it still returns empty, check whether your project is a Projects (beta) board. Those don’t always return items through gh project item-list; you may need to call gh api graphql with the new Projects API instead.

This usually resolves the “empty item list” problem.

[ikrishanaa]

This usually happens when the app token doesn’t have the correct Projects (beta) GraphQL scope, even if it looks like it has org/project permissions. Try regenerating the token with updated permissions, re-authenticate in your workflow, and test with a raw GraphQL query like:

gh api graphql -f query='{ viewer { projectsV2(first:1){nodes{title items(first:5){totalCount}}}} }'

If that returns items, the issue is with the CLI command - make sure you’re on the latest gh version. If it still returns empty, it’s likely a token/project visibility issue.

[ArpitChoubey]

Hi @zsloane 👋,

This usually happens due to token scope/permission issues or the type of token used when accessing Projects (especially Projects v2). A few things to check:

App Token Permissions

For Projects v2, you need the read:project or project permission at the organization level (not just the repo).

If your app token only has repo-level access, you may be able to read the project metadata but not the items inside.

GraphQL vs. gh project item-list

Under the hood, gh project item-list calls the GraphQL API. If you’re seeing empty results, try running the GraphQL query manually with gh api graphql to confirm if the API itself is returning empty or if it’s a CLI issue.

Check Authentication Context

If you’re using an App Installation token, make sure the installation is added to the org that owns the project.

Sometimes, switching to a classic PAT (with project and repo scope) works as a test to isolate whether the app token permissions are the problem.

Known Change

GitHub made some changes to Projects API recently. Some users have reported that their workflows broke until they explicitly re-added projects:read permission in their workflow’s permissions: block. Example:-- Yaml

permissions:
contents: read
issues: read
projects: read

Adding this to your workflow might fix the issue.

If none of that helps, I’d suggest testing the same query locally with a classic PAT — if it works there but not with the app token, then it’s definitely a permissions/scope mismatch on the GitHub App.

[mgred]

@ArpitChoubey

Setting projects gives an error:

Unexpected value 'projects'

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