github / github/gh-stack

Inserting a layer in the middle of a stack requires unstack + link, which permanently drops merged PRs

Abierto
#382 2 comentarios 18 reacciones 0 asignados Ver en GitHub
feature request topic: cli - stack modification
Lenguaje dominante
Go
Estrellas
1.5k
Forks
70
Merge medio
1 d 8 h
PR fusionados (30 d)
7

Descripción

### Summary

There is no way to insert a layer in the middle of an already-submitted stack while keeping the stack's merged PRs as members. The only working procedure (`unstack` + `link`) moves the still-open PRs into a **new** stack and leaves every merged PR behind in the old one, which is then closed. The historical grouping of the stack is lost, permanently and irreversibly.

### Current behavior

Given a submitted stack `S` with, bottom to top, one merged PR `#1` and open PRs `#2 → #3 → #4`, and the need to insert a new layer between `#2` and `#3`:

1. `gh stack modify` is TUI-only, so it is unusable non-interactively (and it restructures the local stack, not the server-side membership of an existing PR).
2. Retargeting the base of an existing stacked PR is refused:
- REST `PATCH /repos/{o}/{r}/pulls/{n}` → `HTTP 422 … PullRequest.base is invalid`
- `gh pr edit --base ` → `Cannot change the base branch because the pull request is part of a stack`
3. `gh stack link` only appends to the top (`gh stack link `); it has no position/insert argument, and it rejects arguments that belong to a different stack.
4. So the only way out is `gh stack unstack ` + `gh stack link … `. `unstack` (v0.1.0) unstacks the open PRs and leaves the merged `#1` in `S`; `S` becomes `open: false` with `#1` as its sole member, and `#1` cannot be linked into the new stack (rejected as belonging to another stack).

Net effect: a purely structural edit in the middle of the stack silently destroys the association between the merged layers and the layers that are still in flight.

### Expected behavior

Either of:

- **Insertion**: a way to place a PR/branch at an arbitrary position of an existing stack, e.g. `gh stack link --after ` / `--before ` / `--position `, without tearing the stack down.
- **Lossless rebuild**: allow merged PRs to be re-linked into a stack (or have `unstack` + `link` carry them over), so the recovery procedure above at least preserves the full history of the stack.

### Why it matters

Merged layers are exactly the part of a stack that documents *why* the remaining layers look the way they do. Keeping them attached is useful today when reading the stack, and it is what would let the web UI group a whole line of work — landed and in flight — under a single stack. Today, any mid-stack restructuring resets that grouping, so long-lived stacks progressively lose their own history.

### Environment

- `gh stack version 0.1.0`
- Private repository, stacks enabled.

Guía de contribución

Abrir la guía de contribución

Línea de trabajo

Start by reproducing the reported gh stack link and gh stack unstack behavior, then inspect the REST PATCH /repos/{o}/{r}/pulls/{n} limitation and the existing stack membership flow. Done means a mid-stack insertion or lossless rebuild preserves merged PR membership and keeps the full stack history intact.

Escrito por el modelo de indexación a partir del texto del issue.

Evaluación

Stack tecnológico
github, go
Área
api, cli
Tipo de issue
Nueva funcionalidad
Dificultad
5/5
Tiempo estimado
Más de una semana
Estado de actividad
Activo
Claridad
Bastante claro
Aptitud para principiantes
48/100

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