stack-push

Stack Push

Push all branches in a stack and open (or update) one PR per slice, with each PR targeting its parent branch as base.

When To Use

Run stack-push after stack-create has initialized the branch topology and at least one commit exists on each slice branch. Also run it after adding commits to any slice to update open PRs.

When NOT To Use

• No stack exists yet (use sanctum:stack-create)
• The base merged and the stack must catch up (use sanctum:stack-rebase)

Prerequisites

• stack-create completed: branches exist with commits
• gh CLI authenticated (gh auth status)
• Each slice branch has at least one commit beyond its base

Required Progress Tracking

Create TodoWrite items before starting:

1. stack-push:branches-listed
2. stack-push:branches-pushed
3. stack-push:prs-opened
4. stack-push:stack-summary-posted

Step 1: List Stack Branches (branches-listed)

Identify all branches in the stack. By convention they share a stack/<feature-name>/ prefix:

STACK=stack/my-feature
BASE=master

git branch --list "${STACK}/*" | sed 's/^[* ]*//'

Verify each branch has commits beyond the base:

for branch in $(git branch --list "${STACK}/*" \
    | sed 's/^[* ]*//'); do
  count=$(git rev-list --count \
    "$(git merge-base ${BASE} ${branch})..${branch}")
  echo "${branch}: ${count} commit(s)"
done

Any branch showing 0 commits must have work added before pushing.

Step 2: Push Branches (branches-pushed)

Push every slice branch to the remote in stack order (base slice first):

for branch in $(git branch --list "${STACK}/*" \
    | sed 's/^[* ]*//' | sort); do
  git push --set-upstream origin "${branch}"
  echo "pushed: ${branch}"
done

jj Accelerator (if available)

jj git push --all

Step 3: Open or Update PRs (prs-opened)

Create one PR per slice, targeting its parent branch. For the first slice the parent is master; for subsequent slices the parent is the previous slice's branch.

PREV_BASE=master

for branch in $(git branch --list "${STACK}/*" \
    | sed 's/^[* ]*//' | sort); do

  # Check if a PR already exists for this branch
  existing=$(gh pr list \
    --head "${branch}" \
    --json number \
    --jq '.[0].number' 2>/dev/null)

  if [ -n "${existing}" ]; then
    echo "PR #${existing} already open for ${branch} -- skipping"
  else
    gh pr create \
      --base "${PREV_BASE}" \
      --head "${branch}" \
      --title "[$(echo ${branch} | sed 's|.*/||')] <title>" \
      --body "Part of stack \`${STACK}\`." \
      --draft
    echo "opened PR for ${branch} (base: ${PREV_BASE})"
  fi

  PREV_BASE="${branch}"
done

Fill in the actual PR titles and bodies before removing the --draft flag. Run Skill(sanctum:pr-prep) on each slice to generate quality-gated descriptions.

Step 4: Post Stack Summary (stack-summary-posted)

After all PRs are open, post a summary comment on the first PR (the root of the stack) listing the full chain:

ROOT_PR=$(gh pr list \
  --head "${STACK}/$(git branch --list \
    "${STACK}/*" | sed 's/^[* ]*//' | sort | head -1 \
    | sed 's|.*/||')" \
  --json number --jq '.[0].number')

# Build the stack table
BODY="## Stack\n\n| # | Branch | PR |\n|---|--------|----|\n"
N=1
for branch in $(git branch --list "${STACK}/*" \
    | sed 's/^[* ]*//' | sort); do
  pr_num=$(gh pr list --head "${branch}" \
    --json number --jq '.[0].number')
  BODY="${BODY}| ${N} | \`${branch}\` | #${pr_num} |\n"
  N=$((N+1))
done

gh pr comment "${ROOT_PR}" --body "$(printf "${BODY}")"

Notes

• Always push in stack order so GitHub sees the parent branch before the child PR is opened
• Use --draft by default; promote slices to ready individually as they pass review
• After any git rebase --update-refs run, re-push with git push --force-with-lease (never --force)
• When a base PR merges, run Skill(sanctum:stack-rebase) to cascade the rebase before updating the next PR's base

Exit Criteria

• All 4 TodoWrite items (stack-push:branches-listed through stack-push:stack-summary-posted) are created before pushing starts and marked complete in order
• Each slice branch confirmed to have ≥ 1 commit beyond its base before git push is called; branches with 0 commits are blocked
• One draft PR opened per slice, each targeting its parent branch as base (root slice targets master/main)
• Root PR receives a ## Stack comment containing a table with columns #, Branch, and PR listing all slices
• gh pr list --head <branch> returns a PR number for each pushed branch after the step completes