diff --git a/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go b/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go
index ae67cbadb..538a507db 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ func interactiveRepoEdit(opts *EditOptions, r *api.Repository) error {
 				return err
 			}
 			if len(strings.TrimSpace(addTopics)) > 0 {
-				opts.AddTopics = strings.Split(addTopics, ",")
+				opts.AddTopics = parseTopics(addTopics)
 			}
 
 			if len(opts.topicsCache) > 0 {
@@ -454,6 +454,14 @@ func interactiveRepoEdit(opts *EditOptions, r *api.Repository) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func parseTopics(s string) []string {
+	topics := strings.Split(s, ",")
+	for i, topic := range topics {
+		topics[i] = strings.TrimSpace(topic)
+	}
+	return topics
+}
+
 func getTopics(ctx context.Context, httpClient *http.Client, repo ghrepo.Interface) ([]string, error) {
 	apiPath := fmt.Sprintf("repos/%s/%s/topics", repo.RepoOwner(), repo.RepoName())
 	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, "GET", ghinstance.RESTPrefix(repo.RepoHost())+apiPath, nil)
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit_test.go b/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit_test.go
index 76fbed125..dc4198581 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit_test.go
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ func Test_editRun_interactive(t *testing.T) {
 			askStubs: func(as *prompt.AskStubber) {
 				as.StubPrompt("What do you want to edit?").AnswerWith([]string{"Description", "Topics"})
 				as.StubPrompt("Description of the repository").AnswerWith("awesome repo description")
-				as.StubPrompt("Add topics?(csv format)").AnswerWith("a,b,c,d")
+				as.StubPrompt("Add topics?(csv format)").AnswerWith("a, b,c,d ")
 				as.StubPrompt("Remove Topics").AnswerWith([]string{"x"})
 			},
 			httpStubs: func(t *testing.T, reg *httpmock.Registry) {