wei/pull

FR: Merge method that rebases the fork's own commits onto upstream

Open

#661 opened on Jul 29, 2026

View on GitHubContributor guide
 (1 comment) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (720 forks)batch import
enhancementgood first issuehelp wanted

Repository metrics

Stars
 (5,364 stars)
PR merge metrics
 (No merged PRs in 30d)

Description

Asked before in https://github.com/wei/pull/issues/163, https://github.com/wei/pull/issues/202 and https://github.com/wei/pull/issues/213, closed on the grounds that the API cannot do it.

My use case: maintain a default branch fork that contains main plus a few commits of my own, as in https://github.com/krlmlr/duckdb/ . Currently solved with a custom action and pruning .github/workflows because GitHub Actions can't push workflows.

A "reverse rebase" might be feasible with calls Pull already makes:

  1. PATCH /git/refs/heads/<base>-pull — temp branch at the upstream tip, force.
  2. POST /pulls — head <base>, base <base>-pull.
  3. PUT /pulls/{n}/merge with merge_method: "rebase" — replays the fork's own commits onto the upstream tip.
  4. PATCH /git/refs/heads/<base> with force: true — move the branch to the result.
  5. DELETE /git/refs/heads/<base>-pull.

Step 4 is what hardreset already does, so contents:write covers all of it, and the default branch needs no special handling. Conflicts surface as a 405 on step 3 and can take the existing conflictLabel path.

What do you think?

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate how the current merge methods (merge, squash, rebase) are implemented in the codebase, find the GitHub API client code, and assess the proposed 'reverse rebase' sequence. Check existing tests and error handling for merge operations to understand how to integrate the new method.
Tech stack
javascript
Domain
backendapi
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
GitGitHub APINode.js
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65