Usage Guide: Stacked Pull Requests

import { Steps, FileTree, Tabs, TabItem } from ‘@astrojs/starlight/components’;

Stacked Pull Requests allow you to break down large features into smaller, dependent branches. Instead of one massive 1,000-line PR, you ship ten 100-line PRs that are easy to review and merge.

OpenCodeHub treats stacks as first-class citizens, providing native visualization and management tools that other platforms lack.

Concept: The Stack

A “Stack” is simply a chain of git branches, where each branch depends on the one before it.

gitGraph
   commit
   branch main
   commit tag: "v1.0"
   branch feature/part-1
   checkout feature/part-1
   commit id: "feat: database schema"
   branch feature/part-2
   checkout feature/part-2
   commit id: "feat: api endpoints"
   branch feature/part-3
   checkout feature/part-3
   commit id: "feat: frontend ui"

In OpenCodeHub, when you merge feature/part-1, the system automatically rebases feature/part-2 and feature/part-3 onto main, keeping your history clean and valid.

Using the CLI

The och CLI is the power tool for managing stacks.

Create your first branch Start your stack by creating the bottom-most branch.
Terminal window
```
git checkout -b feature/login-schema
# ... write code ...
git commit -am "feat: add users table"
och push
```
OpenCodeHub will detect this is a new branch and ask if you want to create a PR.
Stack on top Without waiting for review, create the next branch immediately.
Terminal window
```
och stack create feature/login-api
# ... write code ...
git commit -am "feat: add login endpoint"
och push
```
The CLI understands that feature/login-api depends on feature/login-schema.

Visualize the Stack See the state of your entire stack in one view.

och stack view

Output:

(main)
  └─ feature/login-schema  [PR #101] (● Pending Review)
       └─ feature/login-api     [PR #102] (● Draft)
            └─ feature/login-ui      [PR #103] (● Draft)

Server-Side features

When you view a PR that is part of a stack in OpenCodeHub’s UI, you get special superpowers:

Stack Navigation: A sidebar shows the full tree of related PRs.
Cascading Merge: Merging the bottom PR triggers a “rebase chain” for all upstack PRs.
Unified CI: You can run CI for the entire stack to ensure the final state is valid.