This appears to work fine:

>>> reader = repo_instance.config_reader()
>>> reader.sections()
['filter "lfs"', 'core', 'user']

However, these do not:

>>> reader.items('user')
NoSectionError: "No section: 'user'"

>>> reader.items_all('user')
KeyError: 'user'

I've confirmed the section exists in the repo's local .git/config as follows:

[user]
        name = pushfoo
        email = 36696816+pushfoo@users.noreply.github.com

If this is due to misuse on my part, please let me know how. I'd be willing to try to make a PR to do the following:

1. Make the exceptions more consistent
2. Update relevant doc to be clearer
3. Fix underlying bugs

Depending on how far down into git's internals I need to go, the last option may require some guidance from project leads.

EDIT: Version info: