`gh pr create`: Support Git's `@{push}` revision syntax for determining head ref #10513

BagToad · 2025-02-27T17:46:52Z

Fixes #575

Description

This adds support Git's @{push} revision syntax for determining head ref.

Acceptance Criteria

Given git rev-parse --abbrev-ref @{push} resolves
when I run gh pr create
then I should create a pr with the headRef pointing at the @[push} return value

Given the branch.<branchName>.pushremote key is set on my current branch
when I run gh pr create
then I should create a pr with the headRef pointing at the remote value in the branch.<branchName>.pushremote key and the current branch name

Given the remote.pushDefault key is set on my current repo
when I run gh pr create
then I should create a pr with the headRef pointing at the remote value in the remote.pushDefault key and the current branch name

Given git rev-parse --abbrev-ref @{push} resolves
and/or given the branch.<branchName>.pushremote key is set on my current branch
and/or given the remote.pushDefault key is set on my current repo
when I run gh pr create
then I should create a pr with the headRef pointing at the given values in the following priority order: @[push} -> branch.<branchName>.pushremote -> remote.pushDefault

Acceptance Tests

--- PASS: TestPullRequests (0.01s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-basic (8.67s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-checkout-by-number (8.80s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-from-manual-merge-base (8.90s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-checkout (8.93s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-comment (9.26s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-with-metadata (9.66s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-view-same-org-fork (11.64s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-from-issue-develop-base (11.97s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-view-outside-repo (6.51s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-respects-remote-colon-branch-syntax (15.72s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-list (7.05s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-view-status-respects-remote-pushdefault (17.42s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-view-status-respects-push-destination (8.35s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-view (6.52s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-merge-rebase-strategy (9.83s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-merge-merge-strategy (9.97s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-checkout-with-url-from-fork (12.15s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-view-status-respects-simple-pushdefault (8.59s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-without-upstream-config (6.96s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-respects-simple-pushdefault (7.51s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-respects-push-destination (15.02s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-respects-branch-pushremote (14.77s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-view-status-respects-branch-pushremote (16.00s)
    --- PASS: TestPullRequests/pr-create-respects-remote-pushdefault (15.02s)
PASS
ok      github.com/cli/cli/v2/acceptance        34.077s

Notes

A lot of review for this PR happened on #10621

Copilot

PR Overview

This PR adds support for Git's @{push} revision syntax for determining the head reference when creating pull requests. Key changes include updating the push destination logic in create.go, modifying test stubs in create_test.go to support the new git commands, and updating documentation in finder.go regarding PR reference order.

Reviewed Changes

File	Description
pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go	Refactored push destination prompting and remote branch determination logic
pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go	Updated test stubs to simulate the new @{push} revision syntax command responses
pkg/cmd/pr/shared/finder.go	Updated comment to reflect the correct PR ref direction for head and base repositories

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go:1678

The removal of Test_tryDetermineTrackingRef may reduce test coverage for tracking reference resolution. Consider adding tests that specifically validate the new behavior for push revision resolution.

func Test_tryDetermineTrackingRef(t *testing.T) {

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pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-branch-pushremote.txtar

jtmcg

Good start! Looks like you've managed to parse the complexity of how the context is using refs. I was sort of imaging this leaned a bit more into PRRefs, though, and had less duplication of its internal primitives (BranchName, HeadRepo, BaseRepo) floating around.

That's definitely a bigger refactor, but I think you've taken the right partial step there to follow through with it. Happy to pair on that if you'd like.

And, of course, if it isn't possible, let me know! I'd love to try to update PRRefs to make it possible, though, and I'm happy to help with that as well!

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-branch-pushremote.txtar

pkg/cmd/pr/shared/finder.go

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

Copilot

PR Overview

This PR implements support for Git’s @{push} revision syntax in the pull request creation flow. It updates the internal representation of PR references by replacing separate base and head branch fields with a unified PullRequestRefs struct, updates the forking and remote handling logic accordingly, and adjusts tests to accommodate changes in the push destination resolution process.

Reviewed Changes

File	Description
pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go	Refactored how head ref is determined using the PullRequestRefs struct and updated push logic.
pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go	Updated command stubs and test expectations to reflect new push destination and branch parsing.
pkg/cmd/pr/shared/finder.go	Updated comments to reflect the new representation of PR references.

Copilot reviewed 8 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go:914

The change in the forking condition now checks only ctx.forkHeadRepo and not whether a head repository was already determined. Please verify that this behavior is intended and that it correctly reflects the desired logic for automating forks.

if ctx.forkHeadRepo && ctx.isPushEnabled {

pkg/cmd/pr/shared/finder.go:102

[nitpick] The updated comment changes the direction of the PR representation. Please confirm that the new comment correctly describes the intended relationship between the head and base branches.

// headRef -----PR-----> baseRef

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andyfeller · 2025-03-06T14:35:12Z

On it! 🫡

andyfeller

Sorry for delayed follow up on this 🙇

This is a pretty extensive set of changes to tricky logic and think it would benefit from 1) me making more time to really reason out the changes and 2) getting a 2nd set of eyes (@williammartin) that hasn't paired on developing the changes. Or maybe a synchronous code review 🤔

All of that said, I did have a handful of questions and commentary but will try to make time to dig deeper in the core of the refactor.

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-branch-pushremote.txtar

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-push-destination.txtar

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-branch-pushremote.txtar

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-simple-pushdefault.txtar

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go

jtmcg

Loving how this is shaping up! Good work propagating PRRefs through to the command 🙌 I've added some thoughts for your consideration and some questions.

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go

jtmcg

Hell yeah, nice work on this! I've run all the acceptance tests myself as well and have verified they are working as expected

andyfeller

Sorry for having more questions in digging into the stickier parts of the PR here. 😞 I fear the complexity of the code involved and repercussions in replacing out the logic involved and whether it has greater impacts beyond the original AC in #575 (comment).

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-push-destination.txtar

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

andyfeller

Final round of suggestions and thoughts pairing with @BagToad ✨

We've resolved a number of conversations for now and so a few other little suggestions and will give this a ship! 💪

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go

andyfeller · 2025-03-11T19:47:18Z

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create_test.go

+			setup: func(opts *CreateOptions, t *testing.T) func() {
+				opts.TitleProvided = true
+				opts.BodyProvided = true
+				opts.Title = "my title"
+				opts.Body = "my body"
+				opts.HeadBranch = "otherowner:feature"
+				return func() {}
+			},
+			customPushDestination: true,
+			cmdStubs: func(cs *run.CommandStubber) {
+				cs.Register("git rev-parse --abbrev-ref feature@{push}", 0, "origin/feature")
+				cs.Register("git config remote.pushDefault", 0, "")
+				cs.Register("git config push.default", 0, "")
+			},
+			expectedOut: "https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/pull/12\n",


thought: is there something else we can do in this test to communicate the upstream/origin nature of the test to help the next person understand?

In the other tests, opts.Remotes is missing here and acts as context in the others. Unsure what to do here but took me a hot minute to connect some of the dots. 🤷

pkg/cmd/pr/shared/finder_test.go

BagToad · 2025-03-12T13:35:52Z

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

+	if prRefs.HeadRepo == nil && isPushEnabled && !opts.IO.CanPrompt() {
 		fmt.Fprintf(opts.IO.ErrOut, "aborted: you must first push the current branch to a remote, or use the --head flag")
 		return nil, cmdutil.SilentError
 	}


I'm concerned about this conditional being impossible because prRefs.HeadRepo will likely never be nil 🤔

You're right, it won't be because of this line in ParsePRRefs. That means we're assuming that the headRepo is the same as the baseRepo when it isn't specified in the config. I think that means we'll always push to the baseRepo unless you tell us otherwise. That is different behavior, but is it undesirable?

hmmm yeah 🤔 I don't know if it's undesirable or not.

If isPushEnabled is true here, it means that we prompted the user for a head repo and they selected an option. That means in this case, again, the HeadRepo is also never nil.

Previously prRefs.HeadRepo == nil && isPushEnabled would indicate to downstream in handlePush to fork... I don't see why we'd care about prompting because it looks like no prompting is happening later around where we fork.

With these proposed changes, we check forkHeadRepo instead:

cli/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

Lines 919 to 928 in d29db2d

if ctx.forkHeadRepo && ctx.isPushEnabled {

opts.IO.StartProgressIndicator()

headRepo, err = api.ForkRepo(client, ctx.PrRefs.BaseRepo, "", "", false)

opts.IO.StopProgressIndicator()

if err != nil {

return fmt.Errorf("error forking repo: %w", err)

}

didForkRepo = true

}

All this rambling is to say, I don't really understand what we were previously guarding against in the old code. I guess there was a case where we didn't have a HeadRepo but still had isPushEnabled set to true.

FWIW this is uncovered in tests (maybe indicating it is impossible).

At least at some point it was possible: #2979, #6468

In past this would happen if:

The user did not provide -H

No tracking branch could be determined

Prompting wasn't possible

Like you point out, this guard prevents forking. Perhaps the idea is that forks shouldn't be created without user interaction?

Using a new field to track forking is far clearer than relying on tracking the state through, thanks. I sort of think forkBaseRepo might be clearer though? That's the one we are forking, in order to create a headRepo.

In any case, if previously the idea here was that we would prevent forking the repo under the following conditions:

The user did not provide -H

No tracking branch could be determined

Prompting wasn't possible

And now prRefs.HeadRepo is always set, as Tyler mentions originally, that means in this case we will be pushing to the base repo. Maybe that's ok? I really don't know.

williammartin

Reviewed everything except create.go and create_test.go, just getting some questions out ahead of time.

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-no-local-repo.txtar

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-branch-pushremote.txtar

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-push-destination.txtar

pkg/cmd/pr/shared/finder_test.go

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-remote-colon-branch-syntax.txtar

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-branch-pushremote.txtar

acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-push-destination.txtar

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

williammartin · 2025-03-12T17:08:55Z

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

+	if prRefs.HeadRepo == nil && isPushEnabled && !opts.IO.CanPrompt() {
 		fmt.Fprintf(opts.IO.ErrOut, "aborted: you must first push the current branch to a remote, or use the --head flag")
 		return nil, cmdutil.SilentError
 	}


FWIW this is uncovered in tests (maybe indicating it is impossible).

pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go

Co-authored-by: Tyler McGoffin <[email protected]>

Co-authored-by: Andy Feller <[email protected]>

Standardize <user>:<branch> syntax wherever it is described in comments.

Co-authored-by: Andy Feller <[email protected]>

Document the user:branch syntax for the `--head`` flag in `gh pr create`.

Co-authored-by: Andy Feller <[email protected]>

This test was setting `remote.pushDefault` which likely caused the `user:branch` syntax to be ignored. Update the test to not set this config value.

gibfahn · 2025-04-18T12:29:55Z

I tested this out locally, and it seems to work great! Before I would always push and then have the gh CLI ask me if I wanted to push again:

❯ git ppr
Enumerating objects: 35, done.
Counting objects: 100% (35/35), done.
Delta compression using up to 12 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (18/18), done.
Writing objects: 100% (18/18), 3.41 KiB | 3.41 MiB/s, done.
Total 18 (delta 17), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (17/17), completed with 17 local objects.
remote:
remote: Create a pull request for 'update' on GitHub by visiting:
remote:      https://github.com/gibfahn/myrepo/pull/new/update
remote:
To https://github.com/gibfahn/myrepo.git
 * [new branch]      update -> update

❯ gh pr create ...
? Where should we push the 'update' branch?  [Use arrows to move, type to filter]
  upstream-org/myrepo
  gibfahn/myrepo
  Skip pushing the branch
> Cancel

Now it just works directly 🎉 . Looking forward to this shipping in a release.

BagToad · 2025-04-18T17:11:47Z

We love to hear that @gibfahn! Thank you for trying it and writing your feedback ❤️ ✨

williammartin · 2025-04-18T17:55:13Z

@gibfahn just curious (you may have described this elsewhere), what is your workflow / what are your git settings? Just nice to know which one of the settings we now respect solved this for you.

gibfahn · 2025-04-18T20:42:15Z

I always have @{push} and @{upstream} set to the PR branch and the base branch respectively. This means especially in a configuration where I have e.g.

fork	https://github.mycorp.com/gibfahn/myrepo
pub	https://github.com/myorg/myrepo
pubfork	https://github.com/gibfahn/myrepo
up	https://github.mycorp.com/myorg/myrepo

I'll have some PRs that go to GitHub Enterprise, and some that go to github.com. So having the detection understand that makes things much simpler.

(in case it's useful I wrote up my full config at https://fahn.co/posts/a-better-pull-request-workflow-with-git-push-branches.html)

BagToad requested review from Copilot and jtmcg February 27, 2025 17:47

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 27, 2025

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BagToad marked this pull request as ready for review March 5, 2025 23:24

BagToad requested a review from a team as a code owner March 5, 2025 23:24

BagToad requested a review from andyfeller March 5, 2025 23:24

cliAutomation assigned BagToad Mar 5, 2025

BagToad requested review from Copilot and jtmcg March 5, 2025 23:25

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BagToad mentioned this pull request Mar 10, 2025

Add baseBranchName to PR Finder's PullRequestRefs #10576

Open

jtmcg approved these changes Mar 10, 2025

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andyfeller reviewed Mar 10, 2025

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acceptance/testdata/pr/pr-create-respects-push-destination.txtar Show resolved Hide resolved

andyfeller mentioned this pull request Mar 11, 2025

Enhance gh pr create to support cross repo pull requests within the same organization #10093

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This was referenced Mar 24, 2025

Fix: gh pr create --web does not respect title and body arguments #10533

Closed

Fix: gh pr create prioritize --title and --body over --fill when --web is present #10547

Merged

williammartin mentioned this pull request Mar 27, 2025

Rework ref usage when finding and creating PRs #10621

Merged

BagToad and others added 19 commits April 15, 2025 13:38

fix(pr create): update error handling

54da786

refactor(pr create): add PullRequestRefs HasHead

e999976

docs(pr create): clarify comment on head branch syntax

d524cbd

doc(pr create): fix typo in comments

e9e57f3

Co-authored-by: Tyler McGoffin <[email protected]>

test(finder): change assert to require

6dae35b

Co-authored-by: Andy Feller <[email protected]>

docs(pr create): standard <user>:<branch> syntax

041f02c

Standardize <user>:<branch> syntax wherever it is described in comments.

doc(pr create): improve head repo resolution comments

7bb5d71

Co-authored-by: Andy Feller <[email protected]>

docs(pr create): help text, doc user:branch syntax

15ea861

Document the user:branch syntax for the `--head`` flag in `gh pr create`.

fix(pr create): use existing local variables

81d00a3

Co-authored-by: Andy Feller <[email protected]>

test(pr create): add AT for no local repo

188e138

fix(pr create & stubs): handle exitcode in stubs

bf7bf99

test(pr create): fix user:branch syntax AT

0611d9d

This test was setting `remote.pushDefault` which likely caused the `user:branch` syntax to be ignored. Update the test to not set this config value.

test(pr finder): run test in parallel

76de5f0

fix(pr create): use curly brace for vars in AT

6004fc2

fix(pr create): use REPO var in AT

bdfec50

docs(pr create): add link for user:branch syntax

339e1a2

docs(pr create): clarify BaseRepo type in submitPR

028caa3

Use verbose upstream setting

ebd147b

Rework ref usage when finding and creating PRs

a9dbda6

BagToad force-pushed the kw/575-detect-push-target-for-local-branches-without-upstream-configuration branch from 8b67d4e to a9dbda6 Compare April 15, 2025 19:38

BagToad merged commit d52a599 into trunk Apr 15, 2025
16 checks passed

BagToad deleted the kw/575-detect-push-target-for-local-branches-without-upstream-configuration branch April 15, 2025 20:37

This was referenced Apr 24, 2025

Fix pr create when branch name contains slashes #10859

Merged

Fix pr create when push.default tracking and no merge ref #10863

Merged

muzimuzhi mentioned this pull request May 7, 2025

gh pr list: no support for --head <owner>:<branch> syntax #10945

Open

	if ctx.forkHeadRepo && ctx.isPushEnabled {
	opts.IO.StartProgressIndicator()
	headRepo, err = api.ForkRepo(client, ctx.PrRefs.BaseRepo, "", "", false)
	opts.IO.StopProgressIndicator()
	if err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("error forking repo: %w", err)
	}
	didForkRepo = true
	}

gh pr create: Support Git's @{push} revision syntax for determining head ref #10513

gh pr create: Support Git's @{push} revision syntax for determining head ref #10513

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`gh pr create`: Support Git's `@{push}` revision syntax for determining head ref #10513

`gh pr create`: Support Git's `@{push}` revision syntax for determining head ref #10513

BagToad commented Feb 27, 2025 •

edited by williammartin

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