pr-rebase_skill

Overview

This skill rebases the current Git branch onto the latest upstream changes, helps resolve conflicts, and pushes the updated branch. It automates the fetch/rebase flow, guides conflict resolution, and hands off to a lint-and-push step. The goal is a clean, up-to-date PR branch ready to merge.

How this skill works

The skill checks your git remotes to decide whether to rebase onto upstream/main (cross-repo) or origin/main (same-repo). It fetches all refs, runs the rebase, and surfaces any file conflicts for manual resolution. After you stage resolved files and continue the rebase, it delegates linting and push operations to the pr-push step and summarizes the outcome.

When to use it

• Before opening or updating a pull request to ensure it applies cleanly
• When CI shows conflicts or merge errors with the target branch
• When syncing a forked/head branch with changes from the base repository
• Before running integration tests that assume latest upstream code
• When preparing a PR for final review to minimize merge conflicts

Best practices

• Confirm remote configuration with git remote -v and git branch -vv before rebasing
• Always git fetch --all to ensure you rebase onto the absolute latest commits
• Inspect each conflict carefully; prefer small, logical resolutions that preserve intent
• Run the repository linting and tests after the rebase and before pushing
• Use signed commits or include clear changelog entries if rebase rewrites history

Example use cases

• A feature branch in a fork needs to rebase onto the main branch of the base repo before CI can pass
• A same-repository PR falls behind main after a large merge and must be updated to remove conflicts
• Resolving a conflict where upstream renamed a file while your branch modified it, then pushing the resolved branch
• Preparing multiple dependent PRs by rebasing each on the updated base branch to preserve a clean commit history