git-merge

Git Merge with User Confirmation

Overview

Every git merge — whether a direct git merge, a GitHub PR merge via gh pr merge, or a GitLab MR merge — MUST be preceded by explicit user confirmation. Merges are hard to reverse cleanly and can affect shared branches. This skill ensures the user always makes the final call.

When to Use

• Running git merge directly (any branch into any branch)
• Merging a pull request via gh pr merge or the GitHub API
• Merging a merge request via glab mr merge or the GitLab API
• Any workflow step that results in a merge commit, fast-forward merge, or squash merge

Do NOT Use When

• The user is only viewing merge status or conflicts (git log --merges, gh pr status)
• Rebasing — this is not a merge (use caution separately, but this skill does not apply)

Note: Even if the user says "just merge it" or "merge without asking", always present the merge summary first. The user must explicitly confirm after seeing the summary. This is the core safety guarantee of the skill.

Rules

1. Verify the target branch first

Before anything else, confirm you are on the correct target branch:

git branch --show-current

If the current branch is not the intended target, switch to it — but confirm with the user if the target is a protected branch (main, master, develop). Ensure the working tree is clean (git status) before proceeding, since the dry-run in §2 modifies the index.

2. Never merge without explicit user confirmation

Once on the correct target branch, present a summary and ask the user to confirm.

Required summary contents:

Field	Description
Source	The branch or ref being merged in
Target	The branch receiving the merge
Strategy	Merge commit, squash, or fast-forward
Commits	Number of commits being merged
Conflicts	Whether conflicts are expected (run a dry-run first)

# Dry-run to detect conflicts (requires clean working tree)
git merge --no-commit --no-ff <source-branch> 2>&1
git merge --abort 2>/dev/null

3. Ask clearly and wait

Present the summary, then ask a direct yes/no question. Do not proceed until the user explicitly confirms.

Merge summary:
  Source: feat/oauth2-login
  Target: main
  Strategy: merge commit
  Commits: 4
  Conflicts: none detected

Proceed with merge? (yes/no)

4. Respect "no"

If the user declines, stop. Do not retry, rephrase, or suggest alternatives unless the user asks for them.

5. PR/MR merges follow the same rule

When merging via gh pr merge or glab mr merge, the same confirmation is required:

PR merge summary:
  PR: #42 — feat: add OAuth2 login flow
  Target: main
  Strategy: squash
  CI status: all checks passed
  Approved: 2/2 reviewers

Proceed with merge? (yes/no)

6. Post-merge verification

After a successful merge, report the result:

# Show the merge commit
git log --oneline -1

# Confirm current branch state
git branch --show-current

Examples

# BAD — merging without asking
git merge feat/new-api

# BAD — PR merge without confirmation
gh pr merge 42 --squash

# GOOD — verify branch, dry-run, summarize, confirm, then merge
git branch --show-current  # confirm target branch
git status                 # confirm clean working tree
git merge --no-commit --no-ff feat/new-api
git merge --abort
# ... present summary and ask user ...
# user confirms
git merge feat/new-api

# GOOD — PR merge with confirmation
# ... present PR summary and ask user ...
# user confirms
gh pr merge 42 --squash

Red Flags — STOP

• About to run git merge or gh pr merge without having asked the user → stop and ask first
• User said "no" and you are about to merge anyway → stop immediately
• Merging into a protected branch (main, master) without confirming the target → verify the branch first
• Merge has conflicts and you are about to force it → present the conflicts to the user and let them decide