git/GitHub CLI set editor to vim or VSCode

The GitHub CLI (gh binary), defaults to nano as its editor.

Developers may want to set it to vim or VSCode to keep it in line with the git CLI’s behaviour.

GitHub CLI (gh) set editor to vim/VSCode

Note: the following instructions work for any given editor that can be invoked using a CLI

Set the Editor for the GitHub CLI (gh) to vim:

gh config set editor "vim"

Or set the editor for the GitHub CLI (gh) to VSCode (code):

# ensure `code` CLI tool is installed using the VSCode command palette
gh config set editor "code --wait"

Git set editor to vim/VSCode

Note: the following instructions work for any given editor that can be invoked using a CLI

While researching how to set the editor for gh (the GitHub CLI), I found how to do the same for the main git CLI.

Set the git editor to vim:

# Using an env var for this command
GIT_EDITOR="vim" git commit
# Or using git config
git config --global core.editor vim

Set the git editor to VSCode:

# Using an env var for this command
GIT_EDITOR="code --wait" git commit
# Or using git config
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

In order to override it globally, use the git config --global core.editor <editor-binary> or set the GIT_EDITOR env var in your rc file, eg. .bashrc, .zshrc etc.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.