Rebase Command

The rebase subcommand updates pull request branches that are behind the default branch across repositories in a GitHub organization.

Synopsis 

ghprmerge [global-flags] rebase [rebase-flags]

The rebase subcommand scans repositories for PRs matching the specified source branch patterns and brings out-of-date branches up-to-date with the default branch. It does not merge PRs — rebase and merge are separate subcommands.

Flags

Global Flags

These flags are placed before the rebase subcommand.

Flag Default Description
--org GITHUB_ORG env GitHub organization to scan (required)
--repo - Limit to specific repositories (repeatable)
--repo-limit 0 Maximum repositories to process (0 = unlimited)
--json false Output structured JSON
--verbose false Show all repos including those with no matching PRs
--no-color false Disable colored output

Rebase Flags

These flags are placed after the rebase subcommand.

Flag Default Description
--source-branch - Branch name pattern to match PR head branches (required, repeatable)
--confirm false Scan all repos first, then prompt for confirmation before rebasing
--repo - Additional repo filter, in addition to the global --repo (repeatable)

Behavior

The rebase subcommand processes repositories sequentially and updates branches that are behind the default branch. Unlike the merge subcommand, failing or pending checks are not blocking — rebasing may resolve the issues causing check failures, so the tool does not gate on check status.

Key behavioral properties:

  • Out-of-date branches only: Branches that are already up-to-date with the default branch are skipped.
  • Not a draft: Draft PRs are excluded.
  • Targets default branch: Only PRs targeting the repository’s default branch are considered.
  • No merging: The rebase subcommand never merges a PR. Rebase and merge are intentionally separate operations to provide explicit control over each step.
  • Checks are not blocking: Since rebasing can resolve failing checks (e.g., a conflict with a recently merged change), the rebase subcommand does not skip PRs based on check status. This differs from the merge subcommand, which requires all checks to pass.

After rebasing, run the merge subcommand once checks have passed:

# Step 1: Rebase out-of-date branches
ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/

# Step 2: Wait for checks to pass
sleep 300

# Step 3: Merge ready PRs
ghprmerge --org myorg merge --source-branch dependabot/

Dependabot Handling

The rebase subcommand uses different strategies depending on whether the branch is managed by Dependabot:

Dependabot branches (prefix dependabot/)

For branches with the dependabot/ prefix, the tool posts a comment containing @dependabot rebase on the pull request. Dependabot detects this comment and performs the rebase on its own. This is the correct approach because Dependabot manages its own branches and direct updates via the API would conflict with its workflow.

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/

Non-Dependabot branches

For branches that do not have the dependabot/ prefix, the tool uses GitHub’s update branch API directly to bring the branch up-to-date with the default branch.

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch feature/batch-update

Confirmation Mode

The --confirm flag changes the execution flow to a two-phase process:

  1. Scan phase: All repositories are scanned and candidate PRs are identified. No mutations are performed during this phase. A progress bar is displayed during scanning.
  2. Prompt phase: A summary of pending rebase actions is displayed, and the user is prompted for confirmation before proceeding.
ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/ --confirm

On confirmation:

  • The pending scan output is cleared
  • Each rebase action result is streamed to the console as it completes
  • The progress bar continues below the streamed results

If no actions are pending (e.g., all PRs are already up-to-date or skipped), the matching repository results and skip reasons are printed instead of prompting.

With --verbose, scan-time repository results are streamed live as they are discovered, giving visibility into the scan before the prompt appears.

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/ --confirm --verbose

Multiple Source Branches

The --source-branch flag can be specified multiple times to match PRs across different branch name patterns in a single run:

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/npm_and_yarn/ --source-branch dependabot/go_modules/

Matching behavior

  • Multiple --source-branch patterns are matched during a single scan of each repository, reducing the number of passes required.
  • If multiple source branch patterns match PRs in the same repository, only the first matching pattern (by the order specified on the command line) is used. Subsequent matches in that repository are skipped.
  • This prevents concurrent modification issues where rebasing one PR could invalidate the branch state of another PR in the same repository.

Pattern ordering

The order of --source-branch flags matters. Place higher-priority patterns first:

# Prioritize Go module updates over npm updates
ghprmerge --org myorg rebase \
  --source-branch dependabot/go_modules/ \
  --source-branch dependabot/npm_and_yarn/

In this example, if a repository has both a Go module update PR and an npm update PR, only the Go module PR will be considered for rebasing.

Examples

Basic rebase

Rebase all out-of-date Dependabot PRs across the organization:

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/

Rebase specific repos

Limit rebasing to specific repositories:

ghprmerge --org myorg --repo repo1 --repo repo2 rebase --source-branch dependabot/

Rebase with confirmation

Review planned actions before executing:

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/ --confirm

Rebase with verbose confirmation

Stream scan results live, then confirm before rebasing:

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/ --confirm --verbose

Rebase multiple branch patterns

Rebase PRs from multiple Dependabot ecosystems:

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase \
  --source-branch dependabot/npm_and_yarn/ \
  --source-branch dependabot/go_modules/ \
  --source-branch dependabot/pip/

Rebase with repo limit

Process at most 10 repositories:

ghprmerge --org myorg --repo-limit 10 rebase --source-branch dependabot/

Rebase non-Dependabot branches

Update a custom branch pattern using the GitHub update branch API directly:

ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch feature/batch-update

JSON output for scripting

Get structured output for automation pipelines:

ghprmerge --org myorg --json rebase --source-branch dependabot/ | jq '.summary'

Disable colored output

Useful for CI environments or piping to a file:

ghprmerge --org myorg --no-color rebase --source-branch dependabot/

Production workflow

A typical two-step workflow using rebase and merge as separate operations:

# Step 1: Rebase out-of-date branches
ghprmerge --org myorg rebase --source-branch dependabot/ --confirm

# Step 2: Wait for checks to pass
sleep 300

# Step 3: Merge ready PRs
ghprmerge --org myorg merge --source-branch dependabot/