GitHub has moved stacked pull requests into public preview, letting developers split a large change into a chain of dependent PRs that can be reviewed and merged independently.

Why the feature matters

A single, monolithic PR often balloons into a month-long review, with reviewers forced to wade through unrelated code. When the base branch moves, those massive changes are prone to merge conflicts that stall releases. Stacked PRs address both problems by turning one big diff into a series of smaller, focused diffs that each builds on the previous one.

How it works

Create the first PR against the main branch, then base the next PR on the first, the third on the second, and so on. GitHub tracks the relationships automatically: if you amend the base PR, the dependent PRs are updated to reflect the new state. Reviewers can approve the entire stack with a single click or sign off on individual layers.

  • Reviews stay on a narrow scope, making feedback quicker.
  • Conflicts drop because each PR only touches the code introduced in its own layer.
  • The UI shows the stack hierarchy, and the GitHub CLI offers a one-liner to spin up a series of stacked PRs.
gh pr create --title Feature A --base main
gh pr create --title Feature B --base feature-a
gh pr create --title Feature C --base feature-b

The command line example creates three linked PRs, each dependent on the one before it. The same workflow is available through the web interface, where you can reorder or drop a PR from the stack without breaking the others.

Who stands to gain

Large feature teams and open-source maintainers can ship incremental work without exposing reviewers to unrelated churn. Release managers get a clearer picture of what’s ready to ship, because each stack layer can be merged on its own schedule.

Caveats to consider

The feature is still in preview, so it may change before a full release. Teams will need to adopt new habits around branching and may encounter edge cases when rebasing a stack that has already been merged partially. Documentation is still growing, so early adopters might spend extra time learning the UI cues.

What to watch next

GitHub will likely roll out tighter integration with code-owners and automation tools, and may expose metrics on conflict reduction. Keep an eye on the preview announcement page for updates on GA (general availability) timing.

Takeaway: Stacked pull requests give developers a practical way to tame massive changes, turning a single, conflict-heavy PR into a manageable, review-friendly sequence. If your workflow battles long reviews and merge headaches, the preview is worth a trial run.