github / github/gh-stack

gh stack rebase --continue doesn't report new conflicts hit while resuming a multi-commit branch rebase

Open
#430 1 comment 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
bug topic: cli - rebase
Dominant language
Go
Stars
1.5k
Forks
70
Avg merge
1d 8h
Merged PRs (30d)
7

Description

## Summary

`gh stack rebase --continue` only prints `Conflicted files:` listing for first conflict encountered when cascading one stacked branch onto another. If resolving that conflict and continuing causes git to hit a second conflict on a later commit within the same branch's replay, the tool does not report what files are now conflicted and just returns a generic wrapped error.

This can make it look like there's only one conflicted file when there are actually more. You can only see the other conflicts by manually running `git status`.

## Steps to reproduce

1. Create a stack with a branch containing at least two commits and at least two files, where:
- Commit A modifies `file1.txt` so that there's a conflict with the (rebased) parent branch.
- Commit B later modifies `file2.txt` so that it also conflicts with the parent branch, independently of commit A.
2. Rebase the stack
3. The tool stops on commit A's conflict and correctly prints:
```
Conflicted files:
C file1.tsx (lines N–M)
```
4. Resolve `file1.txt`, stage it, run `gh stack rebase --continue` again.
5. Git internally applies commit B next, which conflicts on `file2.txt`.

## Expected behavior

Step 5 should print the same kind of `Conflicted files:` block, listing `file2.txt` with its conflict line numbers, like step 3 did for `file1.txt`.

## Actual behavior

Step 5 prints a generic error:
```
rebase continue failed — resolve remaining conflicts and try again: exit status 1
```

No indication of which file(s) are now conflicted. The only way to discover where the new conflict is is running `git status` manually.

## Proposed solution / notes

I'll be honest, not familiar with Go so this "solution" is mostly Claude. I did double check that it looks at least mostly right to me. Figured it might be helpful.

> Traced this to `cmd/rebase.go` and `internal/git/git.go`:
>
> - `printConflictDetails()` / `printConflictDetailsWithContinue()` (`cmd/rebase.go:545`) is the function that formats the `Conflicted files:` block with per-file conflict-marker line numbers (via `git.FindConflictMarkers`). It's only called from the branch-to-branch **cascade** logic, at `cmd/rebase.go:259` and `:435`.
> - `continueRebase()` (`cmd/rebase.go:312`) has a separate path for resuming an *already in-progress* `git rebase` within a single branch's multi-commit replay:
> ```go
> if git.IsRebaseInProgress() {
> rebaseOpts := git.RebaseOpts{CommitterDateIsAuthorDate: state.CommitterDateIsAuthorDate}
> if err := git.RebaseContinue(rebaseOpts); err != nil {
> return fmt.Errorf("rebase continue failed — resolve remaining conflicts and try again: %w", err)
> }
> }
> ```
> This path never calls `printConflictDetails`.
> - Following `RebaseContinue` (`internal/git/gitops.go:334`) into `tryAutoResolveRebase` (`internal/git/git.go:118`), the conflicted-files list is actually fetched — just to check whether `rerere` already auto-resolved everything — and then discarded on the way out:
> ```go
> conflicts, err := ConflictedFiles()
> if err != nil {
> return originalErr
> }
> if len(conflicts) > 0 {
> return originalErr // <-- conflicts is right here and gets thrown away
> }
> ```
>
> **Fix**: in `continueRebase`, when `git.RebaseContinue` returns an error, call `printConflictDetailsWithContinue` (using the still-in-progress rebase's current conflicted files, e.g. by calling `git.ConflictedFiles()` again, or by threading `tryAutoResolveRebase`'s local `conflicts` slice out through the error) before returning, instead of just wrapping the raw error string. That gives resume-mid-branch conflicts the same reporting as cascade-boundary conflicts.

## Environment

- `gh` version: 2.97.0 (2026-07-31)
- `gh-stack` extension: `github/gh-stack` v0.1.0
- OS: macOS Tahoe 26.5.1

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start in cmd/rebase.go at continueRebase and compare its in-progress path with printConflictDetailsWithContinue. Then trace git.RebaseContinue in internal/git/gitops.go and tryAutoResolveRebase in internal/git/git.go; reproduce the multi-commit conflict flow with gh stack rebase --continue. Done means a later conflict reports the current Conflicted files block instead of only the generic error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
git, go
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
72/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.