Nasrul Hazim Bin Mohamad

Posted on Jul 24

Automating GitHub Project Draft Issues with PHP and GraphQL

#github #graphql #php

Managing tasks in GitHub Projects (Beta) is powerful — but adding a long list of draft issues manually? Tedious. In this post, I’ll show you how to automate the process using a simple PHP script and GitHub’s GraphQL API.

Whether you're planning a product roadmap, organising feature releases, or just bootstrapping a backlog — this workflow will save you hours.

✅ What You'll Learn

How to create Draft Issues in GitHub Projects v2 using PHP
How to use GraphQL for GitHub automation
How to handle titles, descriptions, and client mutation IDs dynamically

📦 What You Need

A GitHub Project (Beta) — created in your organisation or personal space.
A GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) — with at least the project scope.
Project Node ID — required for GraphQL mutations.
PHP CLI with curl enabled.

🎯 Step 1: Get Your Project Node ID

GitHub Projects v2 uses GraphQL Node IDs, not plain numbers like /projects/2.

Use the GitHub GraphQL Explorer and run this query:

query {
  organization(login: "your-org-name") {
    projectsV2(first: 10) {
      nodes {
        id
        number
        title
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace your-org-name with your actual GitHub org.

📝 Copy the id where number matches your project (e.g. 2).

🛠 Step 2: Write the PHP Script

Here’s a full working script to create Draft Issues with title and description:

<?php

$githubToken = 'your_github_token_here';        // 🔐 GitHub PAT with `project` scope
$projectId = 'PVT_your_project_node_id_here';   // 🆔 Project node ID

$features = [
    'Jetstream Team Management',
    'User Authentication',
    'Soft Delete + UUID Support',
    // ... (more features)
    'Priority Support System',
];

$apiUrl = 'https://api.github.com/graphql';

foreach ($features as $index => $title) {
    $body = "This is a placeholder description for **$title**.\n\nFeel free to update the details as needed.";
    $clientMutationId = uniqid("draft_");

    $mutation = <<<GRAPHQL
mutation {
  addProjectV2DraftIssue(input: {
    projectId: "$projectId",
    title: "$title",
    body: "$body",
    clientMutationId: "$clientMutationId"
  }) {
    projectItem {
      id
    }
  }
}
GRAPHQL;

    echo "📝 Creating draft: $title\n";

    $response = githubGraphQL($apiUrl, $githubToken, $mutation);

    if (isset($response['data']['addProjectV2DraftIssue']['projectItem']['id'])) {
        echo "✅ Created: $title\n";
    } else {
        echo "❌ Failed: $title\n";
        print_r($response['errors'] ?? []);
    }
}

function githubGraphQL($url, $token, $query)
{
    $ch = curl_init($url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode(['query' => $query]));
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
        "Authorization: Bearer $token",
        "Content-Type: application/json",
        "User-Agent: PHP Script"
    ]);

    $response = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);

    return json_decode($response, true);
}

🚀 How to Run

Save the file as create-draft-issues.php
Replace:

your_github_token_here with your actual PAT
PVT_your_project_node_id_here with your actual Project ID
1. Run:

php create-draft-issues.php

💡 Use Cases

📋 Populate your GitHub project with your entire product backlog
🧪 Convert a spreadsheet of features into tasks
🔁 Use it in a CI/CD pipeline to bootstrap project boards

🔄 What’s Next?

Want to go further? You could:

Parse CSV/Excel files to create issues dynamically
Assign owners using assigneeIds
Add custom fields (like “Feature Type”) via updateProjectV2ItemFieldValue

If you're building tools that interact with GitHub Projects at scale, GraphQL is the way to go.

🧵 Final Thoughts

Automation doesn’t have to be complex. This PHP-based approach makes it super easy to scaffold a GitHub Project in minutes.

If you’re managing your projects manually, this is your sign to automate it and focus more on shipping — not clicking.

✉️ Have any questions or want to see the Excel integration version next? Let me know!

Photo by Brands&People on Unsplash

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