Merging Stacked Prs

Landing an official GitHub PR stack

Land dependent PRs through GitHub's native stack object and gh stack merge. Do not reproduce stack semantics by merging and retargeting individual PRs with gh pr merge and gh pr edit.

Require native stack support

Run gh stack --version before changing GitHub state. Hard-stop if the official extension or server-side stack feature is unavailable; do not fall back to manually merging and retargeting PRs one at a time. GitHub stacks require every head branch to live in the same repository, so hard-stop on a cross-fork chain.

Use a clean dedicated worktree. Fetch current PR metadata and exact head OIDs rather than trusting branch names or an earlier report:

gh pr view <pr> --json number,author,baseRefName,baseRefOid,headRefName,headRefOid,isCrossRepository,state,isDraft,reviewDecision,mergeStateStatus,statusCheckRollup

Query PullRequest.stack and stackEntry.position for at least one PR in each apparent chain; this official GitHub object, not base-branch inference alone, is the stack-membership authority. Paginate entries when size exceeds the returned page:

gh api graphql -F owner=<owner> -F name=<repo> -F number=<pr> -f query='
query($owner: String!, $name: String!, $number: Int!) {
  repository(owner: $owner, name: $name) {
    pullRequest(number: $number) {
      number
      author { login }
      baseRefName
      headRefName
      stackEntry { position }
      stack {
        number
        baseRefName
        size
        entries(first: 100) {
          nodes {
            position
            pullRequest { number author { login } baseRefName headRefName state isDraft }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}'

Establish the expected bottom-to-top order from the live PR bases: the bottom targets the trunk, and each higher PR targets the head branch immediately below it.

Link missing stack members

First compare any existing stack entries with the expected chain. One existing stack may contain an order-preserving subset of the requested chain; multiple stack numbers, an unexpected entry, or a conflicting order requires user direction before any mutation.

When any dependent PR is not yet in that official stack:

1. Compare every author.login exactly.
2. If all authors match, link the chain automatically in bottom-to-top order:

gh stack link --base <trunk> <bottom-pr> <next-pr> ... <top-pr>

3. If authors differ or any author is unavailable, ask the user whether to link before changing GitHub state.
4. Re-query GraphQL and require one stack number, the expected trunk, the complete PR set, and the expected positions and base chain.

Never dissolve, reorder, or rebuild an existing stack automatically; gh stack link is additive and merged or queued entries cannot be unstacked.

Refresh only when needed

Do not rewrite branches merely because a refresh mechanism exists. When the live merge state or repository rules require an updated trunk, choose either allowed history:

• Native cascading rebase: check out the remote stack with gh stack checkout <pr-or-stack> when it is not tracked locally, then run gh stack sync. The command may rebase and lease-protected force-push every active layer before local validation. Immediately inspect the rewritten scope, run the relevant checks for every affected layer, and do not merge or claim readiness until they pass. If sync detects a rebase conflict, use gh stack rebase, resolve and validate it, then publish with gh stack push. If checkout or sync reports divergent local and remote stack compositions, cancel and ask rather than deleting or recreating the remote stack automatically.
• Incremental merge-forward: merge the trunk into the bottom affected branch, then propagate each updated parent into its child in bottom-to-top order and push normally.

Any history rewrite is allowed after review, but it invalidates commit-OID assumptions. Re-fetch exact heads and re-audit unresolved review threads, approvals, mergeability, and checks after the push. Never use raw --force or overwrite a concurrently advanced remote head.

Preflight the merge range

Re-query the official stack immediately before merging. Require every selected PR to be open, non-draft, in the expected order, and compliant with the repository's review and check requirements. Treat each PR's state independently; a ready top layer does not prove its dependencies are ready.

"Land the stack" selects the whole stack. A partial landing requires an explicit boundary PR and includes every layer from the bottom through that boundary.

Merge through the stack API

Merge the whole stack by its official stack number:

gh stack merge <stack-number> --yes --merge

For an explicitly requested partial landing, merge through the boundary PR:

gh stack merge <boundary-pr> --yes --merge

Do not pass --delete-branch, manually retarget dependents, or issue per-PR merge commands. GitHub merges the selected range bottom-up and retargets or rebases any remaining upper layers. A direct stack merge is all-or-nothing; when the trunk uses a merge queue, GitHub queues the selected range together but may land it in separate groups.

Do not bypass merge requirements. If the native merge reports a blocker, inspect and resolve that blocker through the owning PR or stop and report it; never fall back to gh pr merge.

Verify the landed state

Wait for every selected PR to report MERGED; a queued request is not a completed landing:

gh pr view <pr> --json number,state,mergedAt,mergeCommit,baseRefName,headRefName

For a partial landing, re-query the official stack and verify that every remaining PR is still linked in the expected order and targets the stack trunk or the layer below it. Re-check current heads, review state, and CI because GitHub may have rebased the remaining layers.

Delete branches only in a separate final pass after the corresponding PRs report MERGED. Before deleting each branch, require GitHub to report no open PR still using it as a base:

gh pr list --state open --base <branch> --json number --jq length

Anything other than 0 blocks deletion.

Checklist

• Native gh stack support is available; every PR branch is in the same repository.
• Live PR bases and exact heads establish one bottom-to-top dependency chain.
• GraphQL reports one official stack with the expected trunk, entries, and order; an eligible same-author unstacked chain was linked automatically.
• Any rewritten layers passed relevant validation, and review threads, approvals, mergeability, and checks were re-audited afterward.
• The whole stack, or an explicitly bounded prefix, was submitted through gh stack merge --yes --merge.
• Every selected PR reports MERGED; any remaining upper layers still form the expected official stack.
• Branch deletion happened only after merged-state and zero-dependent verification.