unstack shows a generic/incorrect error instead of the real API rejection reason
Nobody has claimed this yet.
Assessment
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Newbie friendliness
- 67/100
Research direction
Start by reproducing gh stack unstack <number> on a stack with merged pull requests, comparing normal output with GH_DEBUG=api. Trace the unstack error handling and the REST API's 422 response; done means the non-debug output reports the actual rejection reason rather than the unrelated queued-for-merge message.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
Summary
gh stack unstack <number> fails on a stack containing merged PRs, but the plain (non-debug) error message names an unrelated cause. The actual server-side reason is only visible with GH_DEBUG=api.
Repro
- Create a stack with
gh stack link(orsubmit), e.g.main <- a <- b <- c <- d <- e. - Merge
aandb(via merge queue or a normal merge — doesn't matter which). - Run
gh stack unstack <number>on that stack.
Actual
⚠ Some pull requests are queued for merge or have auto-merge enabled and remain stacked on GitHub
The stack was left in place — local tracking is unchanged
I verified via gh api graphql that none of the stack's PRs had autoMergeRequest set or a mergeQueueEntry — so the stated reason doesn't match reality.
Running the identical command with GH_DEBUG=api gh stack unstack <number> shows the real HTTP exchange:
POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/stacks/{id}/unstack
< HTTP/2.0 422 Unprocessable Entity
{
"message": "Pull requests #.. , #.. cannot be removed from this stack",
"documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest/pulls/stacks#remove-pull-requests-from-a-pull-request-stack",
"status": "422"
}
Interestingly, in the GH_DEBUG=api run the CLI's own final stderr line correctly echoed this specific message (✗ Unstacking not allowed: Pull requests #.., #.. cannot be removed from this stack) — a materially different, and accurate, explanation compared to the generic message shown without debug logging.
Expected
The non-debug error message should reflect the actual REST API rejection (a stack can't be unstacked once any of its PRs have merged), not a generic, unrelated "queued for merge / auto-merge enabled" message.
Environment
gh-stack version 0.0.8, installed via gh extension install github/gh-stack.
- Dominant language
- Go
- Stars
- 1.5k
- Forks
- 73
- Avg merge
- 1d 8h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 7
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
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