stax

A modern CLI for stacked Git branches and PRs.

Ship small, reviewable PR stacks quickly without giving up safety.

stax installs both binaries: stax and the short alias st. This README uses st.

• Live docs: cesarferreira.github.io/stax
• Docs index in this repo: docs/index.md

Why stax

• Replace one giant PR with a clean stack of small, focused PRs
• Keep shipping while lower-stack PRs are still in review
• Navigate the full stack and diffs from an interactive TUI
• Restack/merge with transactional safety and fast recovery (st undo, st redo)
• Run stack-aware merge/cascade workflows with CI/readiness checks
• Generate PR bodies and standup summaries with your preferred AI agent
• Work across multiple worktrees, including parallel AI-agent workflows

Install

# Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
brew install cesarferreira/tap/stax

# Or cargo-binstall
cargo binstall stax

Prebuilt binaries (no package manager needed)

Download the latest binary from GitHub Releases:

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/cesarferreira/stax/releases/latest/download/stax-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz | tar xz
# macOS (Intel)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/cesarferreira/stax/releases/latest/download/stax-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz | tar xz
# Linux (x86_64)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/cesarferreira/stax/releases/latest/download/stax-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz | tar xz

# Move binary to ~/.local/bin and symlink `st` alias
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv stax ~/.local/bin/
ln -s ~/.local/bin/stax ~/.local/bin/st

# If ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH, add it:
# echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Verify install:

st --version

60-Second Quick Start

Set up GitHub auth first (required for PR creation, CI checks, and review metadata).

# Option A (recommended): import GitHub CLI auth
gh auth login
st auth --from-gh

# Option B: enter token interactively
st auth

# Option C: env var
export STAX_GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_xxxx"

By default, stax does not use ambient GITHUB_TOKEN unless you opt in with auth.allow_github_token_env = true.

# 1. Create stacked branches
st create auth-api
st create auth-ui

# 2. Inspect stack
st ls
# ◉  auth-ui 1↑
# ○  auth-api 1↑
# ○  main

# 3. Submit PRs for whole stack
st ss

# 4. Sync trunk and restack after merges
st rs --restack

Result: two stacked branches, submitted as two linked PRs, then kept up to date with one sync/restack command.

Picked the wrong trunk branch? Run st init to reconfigure it interactively, or st init --trunk <branch> to set it directly.

Next steps:

• Getting Started: Quick Start
• Workflow: Merge and Cascade

Core Commands

Command	What it does
st	Launch interactive TUI
st ls	Show stack with PR/rebase status
st ll	Show stack with PR URLs and details
st create <name>	Create a branch stacked on current
st ss	Submit full stack and create/update PRs
st merge	Merge PRs from stack bottom to current
st merge --when-ready	Wait/poll until mergeable, then merge
st rs	Sync trunk and clean merged branches
st rs --restack	Sync trunk and restack full stack
st cascade	Restack, push, and create/update PRs
st undo / st redo	Recover or re-apply risky operations
st standup	Summarize recent engineering activity
st generate --pr-body	Generate PR body with AI
st run <cmd> (alias: st test <cmd>)	Run a command on each branch in stack

For complete command and flag reference: docs/commands/core.md and docs/commands/reference.md.

Key Capabilities

Cascade Stack Merge

Merge from stack bottom up to your current branch with safety checks for CI/readiness.

# Merge from bottom -> current branch
st merge

# Wait for readiness explicitly before merging
st merge --when-ready

# Merge full stack regardless of current position
st merge --all

Read more: docs/workflows/merge-and-cascade.md

Safe History Rewriting (Undo/Redo)

stax snapshots branch state before destructive operations (restack, submit, reorder) so recovery is immediate when something goes wrong.

st restack
st undo
st redo

Read more: docs/safety/undo-redo.md

Interactive TUI

Launch with no arguments to browse stacks, inspect diffs, and run common operations without leaving the terminal.

st

Read more: docs/interface/tui.md

Developer Worktrees

Work on multiple stacks in parallel without losing context. st worktree (alias st wt) creates and manages Git worktrees for your existing branches, with shell integration for transparent cd.

# One-time shell integration setup
st shell-setup --install   # appends eval "$(stax shell-setup)" to ~/.zshrc

# Create a worktree for an existing branch
st worktree create feature/payments-api

# List all worktrees (* = current)
st worktree list

# Jump to a worktree (transparent cd via shell function)
st worktree go payments-api
# or the quick alias:
sw payments-api

# Remove when done
st worktree remove payments-api

Shortcuts: st w (list), st wtc [branch] (create), st wtgo <name> (go), st wtrm <name> (remove).

Read more: docs/workflows/multi-worktree.md

Agent Worktrees

Run multiple AI agents in isolated Git worktrees while preserving stack metadata and restack flows. st agent is title-based and includes editor integration and a registry.

# Create isolated worktrees for parallel tasks
st agent create "Add dark mode" --open-codex
st agent create "Fix auth refresh" --open

# Keep all agent branches rebased when trunk moves
st agent sync

# View and clean up
st agent list
st agent remove add-dark-mode --delete-branch

Read more: docs/workflows/agent-worktrees.md

AI PR Body + Standup Summary

Use your configured AI agent to draft PR bodies and generate daily standup summaries.

# Generate/update PR body from branch diff + context
st generate --pr-body

# Spoken-style standup summary
st standup --summary

Read more: docs/integrations/pr-templates-and-ai.md and docs/workflows/reporting.md

Docs Map

If you want to...

• Install and configure quickly: docs/getting-started/install.md
• Learn stacked branch concepts: docs/concepts/stacked-branches.md
• Use day-to-day commands: docs/commands/core.md
• Explore full command/flag reference: docs/commands/reference.md
• Navigate branches efficiently: docs/commands/navigation.md
• Merge, cascade, and keep stacks healthy: docs/workflows/merge-and-cascade.md
• Work across multiple worktrees: docs/workflows/multi-worktree.md
• Use developer worktrees (st worktree): docs/workflows/multi-worktree.md#stax-worktree
• Use agent worktrees end-to-end: docs/workflows/agent-worktrees.md
• Configure auth/branch naming/remote behavior: docs/configuration/index.md
• Validate and repair metadata health: docs/commands/stack-health.md

Integrations

AI/editor integration guides:

• Claude Code: docs/integrations/claude-code.md
• Codex: docs/integrations/codex.md
• Gemini CLI: docs/integrations/gemini-cli.md
• OpenCode: docs/integrations/opencode.md
• PR templates + AI generation: docs/integrations/pr-templates-and-ai.md

Shared skill/instruction file used across agents: skills.md

Performance & Compatibility

• st ls is benchmarked against alternative stacked-branch CLIs and is typically much faster in this repo's benchmark setup.
• stax is freephite/graphite compatible for common stacked-branch workflows.

Details:

• Benchmarks: docs/reference/benchmarks.md
• Compatibility: docs/compatibility/freephite-graphite.md

Configuration

st config
st config --reset-ai
st config --reset-ai --no-prompt

Config file location:

~/.config/stax/config.toml

Common settings include branch naming format, submit stack-links placement, auth source preferences, and enterprise GitHub API host overrides.

Example:

[submit]
stack_links = "body" # "comment" | "body" | "both" | "off"

If you want stax to reset and immediately re-prompt for the AI agent/model, run:

st config --reset-ai

Use st config --reset-ai --no-prompt to only clear the saved pairing without opening the picker.

Read full config reference: docs/configuration/index.md

Contributing & License

• License: MIT
• Before opening a PR, run the repo test command policy from AGENTS.md:

make test
# or
just test

For project docs and architecture, start at docs/index.md.