The Tool Desk
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GitHub’s native stacked pull requests let you split one large change into a chain of smaller pull requests, where each one builds on the branch beneath it, and let GitHub show that chain as a unit with shared rules for review and merging. The Git operations underneath are the same ones developers already use for stacked branches. What changes is that GitHub now recognizes the stack and handles its membership, merge requirements, and merge order. GitHub announced general availability on October 6, 2026 for all github.com plans, and says GitHub Enterprise Server support is coming in an upcoming release (GitHub Changelog, October 6, 2026).
How a stack is structured
A stack is a chain of branches, each with its own pull request. The bottom pull request targets the trunk branch, usually main. Every pull request above it targets the branch of the pull request directly beneath it:
main ← PR1 ← PR2 ← PR3Each layer depends on the layers below it. All branches in a stack must live in the same repository. A stack can’t span two repositories or a fork and its upstream.
What native stacks change
Developers have long stacked branches by hand, and many still do. GitHub’s documentation is explicit that the Git operations are standard. The product change is that GitHub treats the chain as one object in three places: the pull request views, the merge rules, and the automation layer.
Stack context in pull request views
Each pull request still presents a focused diff, so a reviewer sees only the changes in that layer. The stack context shows where that layer sits in the chain and which pull requests depend on it. Without that context, a reviewer has to infer the order from branch names and base branches.
Rules applied across the chain
Every pull request in a stack is held to the rules of the stack’s base branch. That includes required reviews, required status checks, and CODEOWNER approvals. Because the rules come from the base, a higher layer doesn’t get a looser standard just because it sits on top of an approved layer. The official reference also says the stack must have a fully linear history between its branches before it can merge.
Automation and API surface
GitHub documents webhooks, REST API operations, and read-only GraphQL fields for stack information, so teams can build tooling on top of stack membership. The local side is handled by the gh stack GitHub CLI extension, which manages the branch-stack operations on your machine.
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Building and reviewing a stack
The workflow below follows GitHub’s description of the model. Check the current command syntax in the GitHub Docs reference on stacked pull requests before you script it, because the documentation is the authority on the CLI.
- Create the bottom branch from
main, commit the first focused change, and open a pull request whose base ismain. - Create the next branch from the bottom branch, commit the second layer, and open a pull request whose base is the bottom branch, not
main. - Repeat for each further layer, so every pull request targets the one directly beneath it.
- Use the
gh stackextension for local branch-stack operations, and keep each layer coherent: it should compile and test on its own, relative to the layers below. - Reviewers check each layer’s diff and use the stack view to confirm its position and dependencies.
Keeping layers coherent matters more than the tooling. The native feature does not reorder work for you. If a lower layer changes meaning after a higher layer was written, the higher layer needs to be updated.
Merging a stack
Merges proceed from the bottom upward. A whole stack or only its lower portion can land. When lower work lands, the remaining layers are rebased and retargeted as appropriate. This ordering is the main reason stacks behave differently from a set of unrelated pull requests: you can’t land a middle layer while the layer beneath it is still open.
Merge queue
GitHub’s October 6 announcement says stacks enter and land through the merge queue as a single merge group, so the chain is tested together rather than as separate, unconnected changes.
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Approvals after a rebase
When a stack is rebased, approvals are kept on any code that is unchanged. If a rebase alters a layer’s code, that layer needs fresh review. Rebased replacement commits are signed, according to the same announcement.
Deleting a base branch
If the base branch of a stack is deleted, GitHub retargets the bottom pull request automatically instead of closing it. This is the behavior the October 6 announcement describes for a deleted stack base.
Auto-merge rollout
GitHub said auto-merge for stacks would roll out over the weeks following October 6. The sources reviewed for this article don’t confirm that the rollout is complete, so check the changelog or your own repository settings before you depend on auto-merge for a stack.
Availability and limits
Use the table below as the current status snapshot. Some documentation pages may still show public-preview notices from before general availability. The October 6, 2026 changelog is the more recent statement.
| Area | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| github.com plans | Generally available from October 6, 2026 | Stated in GitHub’s changelog for all github.com plans |
| GitHub Enterprise Server | Coming in an upcoming release | No release date given in the announcement |
| Repository scope | All branches must be in one repository | Applies to every layer of the stack |
| GitHub Desktop | Not supported | Stacks must be managed with other tools, such as the gh stack extension |
| Local branch operations | Handled by the gh stack CLI extension |
Per GitHub’s reference documentation |
| Automation | Webhooks, REST API operations, and read-only GraphQL stack fields | Read-only GraphQL means you can query stack data but not change it through that interface |
| Auto-merge for stacks | Announced as rolling out over several weeks | Completion not confirmed in the sources reviewed |
What the reported figures show
GitHub’s October 6 announcement includes three figures about repositories that use stacks. Each is a vendor-reported comparison:
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- A 9% increase in merged code compared with peers, reported for repositories using stacks since the public preview.
- Over two-thirds of the top 1% of repositories use stacked pull requests.
- Those top 1% repositories saw a 5% improvement in time-to-merge.
The announcement excerpt doesn’t describe study design, sample size, or how peers were chosen. Treat these numbers as an indication of adoption among large, active repositories, not as independent proof that stacks cause faster or larger output.
A user’s account
In GitHub’s July 30, 2026 public-preview announcement, Tim Neutkens, Next.js lead at Vercel, described his team’s experience: “We’ve been using GitHub stacked PRs for the past few months. It has helped us introduce smaller individual changes while shipping larger features, making it easier to review PRs.” That is one team’s account, reported by GitHub, not a controlled measurement. It is consistent with the review-focused model described above.
The July preview announcement is available in the GitHub Changelog from July 30, 2026.
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