VdustR Stacked Pull Requests
Two workflows live here and they are not interchangeable. Pick by host and stack shape before touching history.
| Situation | Workflow |
|---|---|
| GitHub, all layers in one repository | Native gh stack. Read references/github-native.md. |
| GitLab, Gitea, or any other host | Manual rebase. Read references/manual-rebase.md. |
| GitHub, but cross-fork or never registered as a stack | Manual rebase. Read references/manual-rebase.md. |
Only GitHub has platform automation for this. The manual path is plain Git, so it
carries the whole workflow on every other host: git rebase --update-refs and
git rebase --onto do the work that gh stack would otherwise do server-side.
Hand-rebuilding history for a registered GitHub stack throws away the server-side
rebase and retarget the platform already does, and can leave the stack
unmergeable. The reverse mistake, reaching for gh stack on an unsupported stack,
fails loudly and costs nothing.
Identify the host before running anything
Read the remote, not the habit. gh commands fail or mislead on a non-GitHub
remote, and a repository can have several remotes pointing at different hosts.
git remote -v
If the remote is not GitHub, go straight to references/manual-rebase.md. Nothing
below applies.
On GitHub, the native path needs the gh CLI with GitHub's stack extension added.
Confirm the extension is present before routing there, and install it if the user
agrees.
gh repo view --json url,isFork,parent
gh stack view 2>&1 | head -5
isFork and parent decide whether the stack is cross-fork, which the native
feature does not support. gh stack view fails on a branch that is not part of a
stack, which tells you whether these branches are registered.
Safety rules for the manual path
These hold regardless of host:
- Classify every commit as parent-owned, child-owned, or uncertain before rewriting, and show the classification.
- Leave uncertain ownership to the user; do not guess from branch names or commit messages.
- Create a backup ref outside
refs/headsbefore any rewrite, and never delete it automatically. A branch is unsafe withgit rebase --update-refsbecause Git can move it with the stack branches. Create a new ref without overwriting an existing recovery point. - Require explicit confirmation before
--force-with-lease, and never use an unguarded force push. - Verify the resulting history, diff, and PR/MR metadata after the rewrite.
Authoritative sources
Native stacking is in active preview, so confirm flags against the source rather than a memorized recipe:
gh stack <command> --help- https://gh.io/stacks
- https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/reference/stacked-pull-requests
Other hosts ship their own dependency features on their own schedules, and none of them were checked here. Before assuming a host has nothing, look up whether it offers dependent or stacked merge requests, and what its plan tier requires.
Related skills
vp-gitfor single-branch commits, cleanup, and ordinary pull-request lifecycle work.vp-pr-comment-resolverwhen a PR in the stack has actionable author-side feedback.