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| Original file line number | Diff line number | Diff line change |
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| @@ -0,0 +1,183 @@ | ||
| --- | ||
| name: gh-stack | ||
| description: > | ||
| Manages stacked PRs and splits multi-part work into reviewable branches with gh-stack. | ||
| Use for stack creation, viewing, edits, push, submit, sync, rebase, merge, or checkout; | ||
| when asked to split or isolate work for review; whenever a user mentions a stack, | ||
| branch layers, dependent PRs, or gh stack; or when a stack is checked out. | ||
| metadata: | ||
| author: github | ||
| version: "0.1.0" | ||
| --- | ||
|
|
||
| # gh-stack | ||
|
|
||
| `gh stack` is a [GitHub CLI](https://cli.github.com/) extension for stacked branches and pull | ||
| requests. A stack is an ordered chain of branches rooted on a trunk, where each branch has one PR | ||
| based on the branch below it, so a reviewer sees only that layer's diff. | ||
|
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| `gh stack` prints a stack trunk-first, left to right: | ||
|
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| ``` | ||
| (main) <- auth <- api <- frontend | ||
| ``` | ||
|
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| Left is the **bottom**, right is the **top**. `auth` is based on `main` and merges first; | ||
| `frontend` merges last. `up` moves toward the top, away from trunk; `down` moves toward it. | ||
| Foundational work belongs at the bottom, code that depends on it above. For how to choose the | ||
| layers, read `references/stack-design.md`. | ||
|
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| ## Setup | ||
|
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| ```bash | ||
| gh extension install github/gh-stack | ||
| git config rerere.enabled true # remember conflict resolutions | ||
| git config remote.pushDefault origin # required if the repo has more than one remote | ||
| ``` | ||
|
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| ## Non-interactive use | ||
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| `gh stack` branches on whether **stdout is a TTY**. Piped, most commands error cleanly or print | ||
| static text; under a PTY the same commands open a prompt or a full-screen TUI and block forever. | ||
| Agent harnesses differ, so always pass the flags below instead of relying on that detection. | ||
|
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| **Multiple remotes:** never run `push`, `submit`, `sync`, `rebase`, or `link` without | ||
| `--remote <name>` unless `remote.pushDefault` is configured. `checkout` and `trunk` have no | ||
| `--remote` flag and require the config. | ||
|
|
||
| | Always run | Never run bare | Why | | ||
| |---|---|---| | ||
| | `gh stack view --json` | `gh stack view` | opens a TUI under a PTY | | ||
| | `gh stack submit --auto` | `gh stack submit` | prompts for a title per new PR | | ||
| | `gh stack merge <target> --yes` | `gh pr merge` | `gh pr merge` cannot merge a stack | | ||
| | `gh stack init <branch>...` | `gh stack init` | prompts for branch names | | ||
| | `gh stack add <branch>` | `gh stack add` | prompts for a name, and fails even when piped | | ||
| | `gh stack checkout <target>` | `gh stack checkout` | opens a selection menu | | ||
| | `gh stack up` / `down` / `top` / `bottom` | `gh stack switch` | `switch` is menu-only | | ||
| | — | `gh stack modify` | TUI-only, no non-interactive path | | ||
|
|
||
| - `view --short` is safe in both modes, but it is formatted for humans. Use `--json` to parse. | ||
| - **`checkout <pr>` when a different local stack already covers those branches** cannot be forced. | ||
| Run `gh stack unstack --local` first (this keeps the stack on GitHub), then retry. | ||
|
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| ## Branch placement | ||
|
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| - **Starting multi-part work:** create the stack before writing files. Do not implement every | ||
| concern on trunk and split it later. Put one dependent concern in each layer, bottom to top. | ||
| - **Editing an existing stack:** check out the layer that owns the change before editing. Never | ||
| commit a lower layer's concern on the current top branch. Run `gh stack view --json`; if | ||
| ownership is unclear, inspect `git log --all -- <path>`. Then check out the owner, edit, commit, | ||
| rebase upstack, and return to top. | ||
|
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||
| ```bash | ||
| gh stack down # or: gh stack checkout api | ||
| git add ... && git commit -m "Add get-user endpoint" | ||
| gh stack rebase --upstack # replay every branch above onto the change | ||
| gh stack top # return to where you were | ||
| gh stack push | ||
| ``` | ||
|
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| ## Core loop | ||
|
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| ```bash | ||
| gh stack init auth # create the stack and check out its branch | ||
| git add ... && git commit -m "Add auth middleware" | ||
| gh stack add api # next layer, branched from the current one | ||
| git add ... && git commit -m "Add API routes" | ||
| gh stack submit --auto # push every branch and open draft PRs | ||
| gh stack view --json # confirm | ||
| ``` | ||
|
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| Add `--open` to `submit` to create PRs ready for review instead of drafts. Branch names are | ||
| verbatim — `gh stack add refactor/foo` creates `refactor/foo`. | ||
|
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| ## Staying in sync | ||
|
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| ```bash | ||
| gh stack sync # fetch, reconcile with GitHub, rebase, push, refresh PR state | ||
| gh stack sync --prune # also delete local branches for merged PRs | ||
| ``` | ||
|
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| Pruning never happens without `--prune` when non-interactive. If the local and remote stacks have | ||
| diverged, `sync` prints both chains, makes no changes, and exits 0 with `Sync aborted` — see | ||
| `references/troubleshooting.md`. | ||
|
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| ## Merging | ||
|
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| Scope the merge with an argument: | ||
|
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| ```bash | ||
| gh stack merge 42 --yes # PR #42 plus every unmerged PR below it | ||
| gh stack merge 7 --yes # every unmerged PR in stack #7 | ||
| gh stack merge 42 --yes --squash # or --merge, --rebase, --merge-method <method> | ||
| ``` | ||
|
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| Pass a PR number to merge that PR and every unmerged PR below it, or a stack number to merge every | ||
| unmerged PR in that stack. The operation is all-or-nothing: if any PR in that set cannot merge, | ||
| none do. | ||
|
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| Without a method flag the last-used method is reused. If the base branch uses a merge queue, the | ||
| stack is queued instead and the queue picks the method, ignoring any flag you passed with a | ||
| warning; queued PRs may land in separate groups. | ||
|
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| ## Reading state | ||
|
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| `gh stack view --json` writes JSON to **stdout**. Status messages go to **stderr** — do not parse | ||
| them, branch on exit codes instead. | ||
|
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| ``` | ||
| trunk string | ||
| currentBranch string | ||
| branches[] name, head, base, isCurrent, isMerged, isQueued, needsRebase | ||
| branches[].pr number, url, state ("OPEN" | "MERGED" | "QUEUED"); absent when no PR exists | ||
| ``` | ||
|
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| `base` is the saved SHA of the parent branch that this branch was last known to contain. It may be | ||
| older than the parent's current tip. `needsRebase` is true when the current parent tip is no longer | ||
| an ancestor of the branch. | ||
|
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||
| ## Exit codes | ||
|
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||
| | Code | Meaning | Recovery | | ||
| |---|---|---| | ||
| | 0 | Success | — | | ||
| | 1 | Generic error | Read stderr | | ||
| | 2 | Not in a stack | `gh stack init`, or `gh stack checkout <target>` | | ||
| | 3 | Rebase conflict | Follow the Exit 3 recovery below | | ||
| | 4 | GitHub API failure | Check `gh auth status`, retry | | ||
| | 5 | Invalid arguments | Fix the invocation; see `<command> --help` | | ||
| | 6 | Disambiguation required | Branch is in several stacks; check out a non-shared branch | | ||
| | 7 | Rebase already in progress | `gh stack rebase --continue` or `--abort` | | ||
| | 8 | Stack file locked | Another `gh stack` process is writing; retry after ~5s | | ||
| | 9 | Stacked PRs unavailable | Not enabled on the repository; tell the user | | ||
| | 10 | Modify recovery required | `gh stack modify --abort` | | ||
|
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| **Exit 3 recovery:** | ||
|
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||
| - After `gh stack rebase`: resolve the files, run `git add`, then | ||
| `gh stack rebase --continue`; use `gh stack rebase --abort` to restore the stack. | ||
| - After `gh stack sync`: the stack has already been restored. Run `gh stack rebase` to recreate the | ||
| conflict, then resolve and continue as above. | ||
|
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||
| ## Constraints | ||
|
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||
| - Stacks are strictly linear: one parent, at most one child. Use separate stacks for parallel work. | ||
| - There is no non-interactive reorder or removal. Errors may suggest `gh stack modify`, but it is | ||
| TUI-only — restructure with `unstack` then `init` instead. | ||
| - PR titles and bodies are auto-generated. Use `gh pr edit` afterwards to change them. | ||
| - `checkout <branch-name>` resolves against local stacks only. Use a stack or PR number to pull a | ||
| stack down from GitHub. | ||
|
|
||
| ## More detail | ||
|
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| `gh stack <command> --help` is authoritative for flags and arguments. Note that | ||
| `gh stack help <command>` does **not** work — it prints the top-level help. | ||
|
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| Open the reference whose trigger matches the task; no need to preload all three. | ||
|
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| - `references/stack-design.md` — read before creating a stack, when deciding how many layers to | ||
| use, what belongs in each one, or whether work belongs in a new stack. | ||
| - `references/commands.md` — read when a command fails unexpectedly or you need its preconditions, | ||
| side effects, atomicity, or ordering guarantees. | ||
| - `references/troubleshooting.md` — read on a rebase conflict, after a squash-merge, on local and | ||
| remote divergence, when restructuring a stack, or when driving stacks from another tool. |
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| # Command behavior | ||
|
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| `gh stack <command> --help` is authoritative for flags and arguments. (`gh stack help <command>` only prints the top-level help.) This file only covers behavior `--help` does not | ||
| explain: preconditions, side effects, atomicity, and failure modes. | ||
|
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| ## Contents | ||
|
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||
| - [init](#init) | ||
| - [add](#add) | ||
| - [push](#push) | ||
| - [submit](#submit) | ||
| - [link](#link) | ||
| - [sync](#sync) | ||
| - [rebase](#rebase) | ||
| - [view](#view) | ||
| - [checkout](#checkout) | ||
| - [unstack](#unstack) | ||
| - [merge](#merge) | ||
| - [Navigation](#navigation) | ||
|
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| ## init | ||
|
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| Creates the stack and checks out the **last** branch in the list, so a single `init` can lay down | ||
| the whole chain: `gh stack init auth api frontend`. | ||
|
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| `init` processes branch arguments from bottom to top. Existing branches are adopted. If the first | ||
| branch does not exist, it is created from the trunk; each later new branch is created from the | ||
| branch immediately before it. There is no separate adopt mode — existence decides. `--base` | ||
| selects a non-default trunk. | ||
|
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| `init` also enables `git rerere`. Under a TTY the first run in a repo asks for confirmation; set | ||
| `git config rerere.enabled true` beforehand to skip it. | ||
|
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| ## add | ||
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| - **Must run from the top branch** of the stack (or the trunk when the stack is still empty). | ||
| Anywhere else it exits **5** with `can only add branches on top of the stack`. Run `gh stack top` | ||
| first. | ||
| - **Uncommitted changes carry over.** Without `-Am`, `add` does not touch the working tree, so | ||
| staged and unstaged changes follow you onto the new branch. Commit or stash first for a clean start. | ||
| - **`add -Am` commits in place when the current branch has no commits yet** — for example | ||
| immediately after `init` — instead of creating a branch. This is deliberate: the first layer | ||
| usually needs its content before a second layer exists. | ||
| - `-A` and `-u` are mutually exclusive, and both require `-m`. | ||
|
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| ## push | ||
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| Pushes every active (non-merged, non-queued) branch in one multi-ref push with per-branch | ||
| `--force-with-lease`. | ||
|
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| **Not atomic.** Some branches may update while another is rejected. A rejection means that branch | ||
| moved on the remote; fix that branch and rerun — rerunning is safe and skips what already landed. | ||
|
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| `push` never creates or updates pull requests. Use `submit` for that. | ||
|
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| ## submit | ||
|
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| Pushes each active branch, then creates a PR for every branch that lacks one, basing it on the | ||
| first non-merged ancestor, then links them into a Stack on GitHub. | ||
|
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| - **Not atomic.** Branches are pushed sequentially with per-branch `--force-with-lease`. If a later | ||
| push is rejected, earlier pushes and PR updates stand. Fix the rejection and rerun the same command. | ||
| - **A fully merged stack cannot be extended.** When every PR in the current stack is already merged, | ||
| `submit` forks the remaining unmerged branches into a **new** stack rooted at the trunk and creates | ||
| it on GitHub, leaving the merged stack untouched. | ||
| - **Title generation with `--auto`:** a branch with a single commit uses that commit's subject as | ||
| the title and its body as the PR body. A branch with multiple commits humanizes the branch name | ||
| (hyphens and underscores become spaces). There is no flag for a custom title or body; use | ||
| `gh pr edit` afterwards. | ||
| - `--open` marks new *and existing* PRs ready for review; without it new PRs are drafts. | ||
| - Requires stacked PRs to be enabled on the repository. If not, `submit` exits **9** when | ||
| non-interactive (under a TTY it offers to create ordinary unstacked PRs instead). | ||
|
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| ## link | ||
|
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| Creates or updates a stack on GitHub **without any local tracking state**. This is the path for | ||
| branches managed by another tool or living in another worktree — see `troubleshooting.md`. | ||
|
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| - Arguments are given bottom to top. Each is a branch name or a PR number; a numeric argument is | ||
| tried as a PR number first and falls back to a branch name. | ||
| - **A numeric first argument is treated as a stack number only when a stack with that number | ||
| exists.** In that case the remaining arguments are appended to the top of that stack and you do | ||
| not re-list its current PRs: `gh stack link 7 feature-c`. Arguments already in the stack are | ||
| skipped; arguments belonging to a different stack are rejected. | ||
| - Branch arguments are pushed automatically (non-force, atomic). Missing PRs are created with | ||
| auto-generated titles and correctly chained bases; existing PRs with a wrong base are corrected. | ||
| - Stack membership is **additive only** — `link` never removes a PR from a stack. | ||
|
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| ## sync | ||
|
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| The routine command. Steps, in order: | ||
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| 1. **Fetch** from the remote. | ||
| 2. **Reconcile with the GitHub stack.** PRs added to the stack on github.com are pulled down and | ||
| appended locally. On divergence, aborts when non-interactive (see `troubleshooting.md`). | ||
| 3. **Fast-forward the trunk.** Skipped when already current; warns when diverged. | ||
| 4. **Cascade rebase when needed.** This runs if the trunk moved, a stack branch was fast-forwarded | ||
| from its remote, or a branch no longer contains its expected parent. Merged PRs are handled | ||
| automatically. On conflict, **all branches are restored** to their pre-rebase state and the | ||
| command exits **3**. | ||
| 5. **Push** all active branches, atomically. | ||
| 6. **Refresh PR state** from GitHub. | ||
| 7. **Sync the stack object** — link open PRs into a stack, additively. Only when two or more PRs | ||
| exist. `sync` never opens PRs; that is `submit`. | ||
| 8. **Prune** local branches for merged PRs, only when `--prune` is passed in a non-interactive | ||
| environment. | ||
|
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| ## rebase | ||
|
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| Pulls from the remote and cascade-rebases. Use it when `sync` reported a conflict or when you need | ||
| to rebase only part of the stack. | ||
|
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| - `--upstack` rebases from the current branch to the top. This is what you run after editing a | ||
| lower layer. | ||
| - `--downstack` rebases from the trunk to the current branch. | ||
| - `--no-trunk` skips fetching and the trunk rebase entirely, aligning stack branches with each | ||
| other only. | ||
| - `--continue` after staging resolutions; `--abort` restores every branch. | ||
| - A merged PR is detected automatically and replayed with `--onto` against the correct target, so a | ||
| squash-merged parent does not produce spurious conflicts. | ||
| - Starting a rebase while one is in progress exits **7**. | ||
|
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| ## view | ||
|
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| - `--json` writes the machine-readable payload to stdout. Its schema is in `SKILL.md`. | ||
| - Bare `view` opens a full-screen TUI when stdout is a TTY, and prints static text when piped. | ||
| - `--short` prints a compact one-line-per-branch summary and never opens the TUI, but it is | ||
| formatted for humans; parse `--json` instead. | ||
| - `view` refreshes PR state from GitHub as a side effect, best-effort — it does not fail when the | ||
| API is unreachable. | ||
|
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| ## checkout | ||
|
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| Accepts a stack number, PR number, PR URL, or branch name. | ||
|
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||
| - A bare number resolves as a **stack number first**, then a PR number, then a branch name. | ||
| - Stack numbers, PR numbers, and PR URLs fetch from GitHub, pull the branches down, and set the | ||
| stack up locally. | ||
| - A **branch name resolves against locally tracked stacks only** and never contacts GitHub. Use a | ||
| stack or PR number to pull a stack that is not tracked locally. | ||
| - If a local stack already exists over those branches with a different composition, `checkout` | ||
| cannot be forced past it. Run `gh stack unstack --local` first, then retry. | ||
| - `checkout` has no flags. It relies on `remote.pushDefault` when several remotes exist. | ||
|
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| ## unstack | ||
|
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| Removes the stack **grouping** only. It never deletes pull requests or branches. | ||
|
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| - With no argument it targets the active stack — the one containing the current branch — removing | ||
| it on GitHub and locally. | ||
| - With a stack number it works from anywhere in the repository, tracked locally or not, via the API. | ||
| Local tracking is also removed when present. | ||
| - `--local` removes local tracking only and never contacts GitHub. Combining `--local` with a stack | ||
| number that is not tracked locally is an error. | ||
| - An unknown stack number exits **2**. | ||
|
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| ## merge | ||
|
|
||
| - Scope with an argument: pass a PR number to merge that PR and every unmerged PR below it in the | ||
| stack, or pass a stack number to merge every unmerged PR in that stack. | ||
| - **All-or-nothing.** If any PR in that exact merge set cannot be merged, none are, and the reason | ||
| is reported. | ||
| - The method comes from `--squash`, `--rebase`, `--merge`, or `--merge-method <method>`. Without | ||
| one, the last-used method is reused. | ||
| - Only basic PR state is checked before merging: open and not a draft. Bypassing merge requirements | ||
| is not supported for stacks. | ||
| - **A merge queue on the base branch overrides everything.** The stack is added to the queue rather | ||
| than merged; the queue chooses the method and any method flag you passed is ignored with a | ||
| warning. Queued PRs are submitted together but land as the queue processes them, so they may merge | ||
| in separate groups rather than all at once. | ||
| - `gh pr merge` cannot merge a stack. Always use `gh stack merge`. | ||
|
|
||
| ## Navigation | ||
|
|
||
| `up`, `down`, `top`, `bottom`, and `trunk` are always non-interactive. `up` and `down` accept a | ||
| count (`gh stack up 3`). Movement clamps at the stack bounds, and merged branches are skipped when | ||
| navigating from an active branch, so `bottom` lands on the lowest *unmerged* branch. | ||
|
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| `gh stack switch` is a selection menu with no non-interactive path. Use the commands above instead. | ||
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P3: The atomicity claims conflict across commands:
pushsays its multi-ref push of all active branches is "Not atomic", whilesyncstep 5 describes the same all-branches push as "atomically" andlinkcalls its push "atomic". A reader cannot tell whether this is an accurate behavioral difference or an error; reconcile the wording or explain why sync/link pushes are atomic whenpushis not.Prompt for AI agents