# Stacked Pr

> Use when the user asks to "stack a PR", "stacked PR", "branch on top of this PR", "next layer", "restack", "rebase the stack", "split this into a stack", or wants to start follow-up work while the previous PR is still in review.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-nir-mo-gh-stack-pr-skill-gh-stack-pr-skill`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [nir-mo](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/nir-mo)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Developer Tools](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/developer-tools)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [nir-mo](https://github.com/nir-mo)
- **Source:** https://github.com/nir-mo/gh-stack-pr-skill

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-nir-mo-gh-stack-pr-skill-gh-stack-pr-skill
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Stacked PRs

Use GitHub's `gh stack` extension. It already does parent tracking, cascading rebase, PR base
retargeting, and bottom-up merging. Do **not** hand-roll this with `git rebase --update-refs`,
`git config branch.*.parent`, or manual `gh pr create --base` — that reimplements the extension
badly and drifts from what GitHub's UI shows.

Public preview — flags may change. `gh stack  --help` is authoritative over this file.

## First: does this actually need to be a stack?

Stacking couples the PRs. They merge bottom-up only, so a review stall or a revert on a lower
layer blocks everything above it.

Before running any command here, check whether the changes actually depend on each other — later
layers building on earlier layers' code, or a split of one logical change too big to review at
once. If they're independent (unrelated files, either could merge first, no shared new symbols),
**stop and ask the user whether they really want a stack**, and say why you're asking: independent
PRs opened straight against the trunk merge in any order and don't block each other. Only proceed
once they confirm.

## Setup (once)

```bash
gh extension install github/gh-stack
gh stack alias        # optional: shorter command
```

If the repo's trunk is not the default branch, every `init` must say so, or the bottom PR targets
the wrong branch:

```bash
gh stack init --base develop 
```

## Create a stack

```bash
gh stack init feat-auth          # add --base  if trunk isn't the default branch
gh stack add -Am "api routes"    # -A stages all, -m commits, then branches
gh stack add -Am "ui"
gh stack submit                  # push + create/update PRs, interactive editor
```

`gh stack submit` opens an editor for titles/bodies; `--auto` skips it and generates titles from
commits, `--open` marks PRs ready for review (without it, `--auto` creates drafts). Commit
messages become the PR titles, so write them the way you want the PR titled.

Already have branches? Adopt them bottom-to-top instead of recreating:

```bash
gh stack init feat/auth feat/api feat/ui
```

Already have open PRs you don't want tracked locally? `gh stack link --base `.

## Adapt to your repo

`gh stack submit` creates the PRs, which means any repo-specific PR skill or convention you
normally rely on is bypassed. Retrofit those rules after submit rather than before:

- Apply required labels per PR: `gh pr edit  --add-label `.
- Run any mandatory post-PR step **once** for the whole stack, not once per layer.
- Verify the bottom PR targets the intended trunk: `gh stack view`.
- If your repo enforces a title format (ticket prefixes and the like), put it in the commit
  message — that is what becomes the PR title.

## Day to day

```bash
gh stack view            # -s for short, --json for scripting
gh stack sync            # fetch, rebase, push, sync PR state — the one you want most days
gh stack rebase          # cascading rebase only; --downstack / --upstack to limit scope
gh stack push            # push branches without touching PRs
gh stack modify          # interactively reorder/restructure; --continue / --abort
gh stack up | down | top | bottom | trunk | switch | checkout
```

Reach for `gh stack sync` before assuming a stack is broken — most "my diff looks wrong" reports
are just a stale local stack after trunk moved.

## Merge

```bash
gh stack merge --squash      # bottom-up; can merge several layers at once
```

GitHub retargets the remaining PRs onto the trunk automatically as lower layers merge. Never merge
a middle PR first, and never merge a stacked PR from the web UI's plain merge button unless you've
confirmed everything below it is already in.

## Bail out

```bash
gh stack unstack --local     # drop local tracking, leave the PRs alone
gh stack unstack             # also unstack them on GitHub
```

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [nir-mo](https://github.com/nir-mo)
- **Source:** [nir-mo/gh-stack-pr-skill](https://github.com/nir-mo/gh-stack-pr-skill)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-nir-mo-gh-stack-pr-skill-gh-stack-pr-skill
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/nir-mo
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

---
Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.