github / github/gh-stack

link doesn't recognize a branch's existing merged/closed PR, tries to create a duplicate

Open
#373 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
bug topic: cli - link
Dominant language
Go
Stars
1.5k
Forks
70
Avg merge
1d 8h
Merged PRs (30d)
7

Description

## Summary

`gh stack link` looks up an existing PR for each branch argument, but the lookup appears scoped to **open** PRs only. For a branch whose PR already merged or was closed (unmerged), `link` reports no PR found and attempts to **create a new one** — contradicting the documented additive-only design ("existing PRs are never removed").

## Repro

1. Build a stack `main <- a <- b <- c <- d <- e` via `gh stack link`.
2. Merge `a` and `b`. Close `c` without merging (its content landed elsewhere, or it was abandoned).
3. Later, run `gh stack link` again with the full historical branch list (e.g. to fix `d`'s base after `c` closed):
`gh stack link a b c d e --base main`

## Actual

```
Checking existing stacks...
Pushing N branches to origin...
Looking up PRs for 5 branches...
Found PR #.. for branch d
Found PR #.. for branch e
Creating 3 PRs...
✗ failed to create PR for branch a: creating PR: GraphQL: was submitted too quickly, Head sha can't be blank, Base sha can't be blank, No commits between main and a, Head ref must be a branch (createPullRequest)
```

Only the still-open branches (`d`, `e`) were recognized as "Found PR". The merged branch `a` (whose content is already in `main`, hence "No commits between main and a") and the closed branch `c` were both treated as PR-less and queued for creation.

In my case the create call failed immediately on the first attempt (an already-merged branch has no diff vs. its base, so `createPullRequest` rejects it), so no duplicate PR was actually created — I confirmed this via `gh pr list --head --state all` for each affected branch afterward. But this looks like it depends on the specific branch/repo state; a branch that still has *some* diff against the base (e.g. a closed-but-unmerged PR whose branch wasn't cleaned up) would likely succeed in creating a genuine duplicate PR.

## Expected

`link`'s PR lookup should match a branch's PR regardless of state (open, closed, or merged) before deciding whether to create a new one, consistent with the "existing PRs are never removed" behavior documented for this command.

## Environment

`gh-stack` version 0.0.8, installed via `gh extension install github/gh-stack`.

Related: #372 (same investigation session, different symptom of the same overall stack-mutation scenario — see also the atomicity issue I'm filing separately).

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start at the `gh stack link` entry point and trace its existing-PR lookup before `createPullRequest` is called. Reproduce with merged and closed branches, then compare against `gh pr list --head --state all`. Done means existing PRs in any state are recognized and no duplicate creation is attempted.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
github, go
Domain
api, cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
66/100

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