feat(repo): add --squash-merge-commit-message flag to gh repo edit by yuvrajangadsingh · Pull Request #12846 · cli/cli

yuvrajangadsingh · 2026-03-05T11:15:17Z

Adds --squash-merge-commit-message to gh repo edit with 4 human-friendly values that map to the GitHub API's squash_merge_commit_title and squash_merge_commit_message fields.

Flag values and API mapping:

Flag value	`squash_merge_commit_title`	`squash_merge_commit_message`
`default`	`COMMIT_OR_PR_TITLE`	`COMMIT_MESSAGES`
`pr-title`	`PR_TITLE`	`BLANK`
`pr-title-commits`	`PR_TITLE`	`COMMIT_MESSAGES`
`pr-title-description`	`PR_TITLE`	`PR_BODY`

These match the 4 options in the GitHub web UI for configuring squash merge behavior.

CLI usage:

gh repo edit --enable-squash-merge --squash-merge-commit-message pr-title

Interactive mode:

When the user selects "Allow Squash Merging" in the merge strategies prompt, a follow-up prompt asks which commit message format to use:

? Default squash merge commit message [Use arrows to move, type to filter]
> default
  pr-title
  pr-title-commits
  pr-title-description

Validation:

Invalid values produce a clear error listing the valid options
Using the flag without --enable-squash-merge produces an error explaining the requirement

Tests added:

Flag parsing: valid value, missing --enable-squash-merge, invalid value
API payload: verifies correct squash_merge_commit_title and squash_merge_commit_message in PATCH body
Interactive flow: squash enabled with commit message prompt, squash disabled (no prompt)
Transform function: all 4 mappings
Validation function: all valid values + invalid inputs

yuvrajangadsingh · 2026-03-08T10:55:39Z

hey @BagToad, would love your eyes on this when you get a chance. small addition to gh repo edit, adds --squash-merge-commit-message flag to match the existing --merge-commit-message pattern.

yuvrajangadsingh · 2026-03-09T16:41:01Z

@babakks would appreciate a look here too when you have time. same area as #12655 you just merged, adds the missing --squash-merge-commit-message and --squash-merge-commit-title flags to gh repo edit.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds support in gh repo edit for configuring the default squash merge commit message behavior using a single user-friendly flag, mapping to the REST API’s squash_merge_commit_title and squash_merge_commit_message fields.

Changes:

Adds --squash-merge-commit-message flag parsing/validation and mapping into the repo edit PATCH payload.
Extends interactive merge options flow to prompt for the default squash merge commit message format when squash merge is enabled.
Adds unit tests for flag parsing, validation/mapping, REST payload fields, and interactive prompting behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go	Implements the new flag, interactive prompt, validation, and mapping to REST fields.
pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit_test.go	Adds coverage for parsing, mapping, payload formation, and interactive prompt flow.

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pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go

Copilot · 2026-03-10T10:35:14Z

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go

+				squashMsgOptions := []string{
+					squashMsgDefault,
+					squashMsgPRTitle,
+					squashMsgPRTitleCommits,
+					squashMsgPRTitleDescription,
+				}


The list of valid squash message values is duplicated here (squashMsgOptions) and again in validSquashMsgValues. To reduce the chance of them drifting, consider reusing the same slice (or deriving one from the other) in both the interactive prompt and validation.

Suggested change

squashMsgOptions := []string{

squashMsgDefault,

squashMsgPRTitle,

squashMsgPRTitleCommits,

squashMsgPRTitleDescription,

}

squashMsgOptions := validSquashMsgValues

done. 198487e

Add a single --squash-merge-commit-message flag that maps to both squash_merge_commit_title and squash_merge_commit_message API fields. Supported values: - default: COMMIT_OR_PR_TITLE + COMMIT_MESSAGES - pr-title: PR_TITLE + BLANK - pr-title-commits: PR_TITLE + COMMIT_MESSAGES - pr-title-description: PR_TITLE + PR_BODY The flag requires --enable-squash-merge to be set alongside it. In interactive mode, the squash merge commit message prompt appears when squash merging is selected. Closes cli#10092

babakks

Nice PR, @yuvrajangadsingh! 🙏

I haven't end-to-end tested it yet, but all seems to be in a good shape. I'll do proper testing once you apply the requested changes.

babakks · 2026-03-10T10:38:12Z

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go

nitpick: let's move this const to the end of the block and comment it out with an explanation:

Suggested change

// TODO: GitHub Enterprise Server does not support has_discussions yet

// optionDiscussions = "Discussions"

done, moved to end of the block with the TODO comment. 198487e

babakks · 2026-03-10T10:54:03Z

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go

+				if err := validateSquashMergeCommitMsg(*opts.Edits.squashMergeCommitMsg); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				if opts.Edits.EnableSquashMerge == nil {
+					return cmdutil.FlagErrorf("--squash-merge-commit-message requires --enable-squash-merge")
+				}


The order of the if statements should change.

reordered, and added the --enable-squash-merge=false check too. 198487e

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go

babakks · 2026-03-10T11:15:08Z

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go

 	cmdutil.NilBoolFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.DeleteBranchOnMerge, "delete-branch-on-merge", "", "Delete head branch when pull requests are merged")
 	cmdutil.NilBoolFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.AllowForking, "allow-forking", "", "Allow forking of an organization repository")
 	cmdutil.NilBoolFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.AllowUpdateBranch, "allow-update-branch", "", "Allow a pull request head branch that is behind its base branch to be updated")
+	cmdutil.NilStringFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.squashMergeCommitMsg, "squash-merge-commit-message", "", "The default value for a squash merge commit message: {default|pr-title|pr-title-commits|pr-title-description}")


off-topic/ignore: we need to think about these inlined enum values since they're not rendered nicely on online (Markdown) docs. See gh search prs as an example.

noted, yeah the inline enum rendering is a separate issue. skipping for now.

babakks · 2026-03-10T11:19:25Z

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit.go

 	cmdutil.NilBoolFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.DeleteBranchOnMerge, "delete-branch-on-merge", "", "Delete head branch when pull requests are merged")
 	cmdutil.NilBoolFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.AllowForking, "allow-forking", "", "Allow forking of an organization repository")
 	cmdutil.NilBoolFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.AllowUpdateBranch, "allow-update-branch", "", "Allow a pull request head branch that is behind its base branch to be updated")
+	cmdutil.NilStringFlag(cmd, &opts.Edits.squashMergeCommitMsg, "squash-merge-commit-message", "", "The default value for a squash merge commit message: {default|pr-title|pr-title-commits|pr-title-description}")


suggestion: feel free to skip this one, but it'd be super nice if we could have a new helper like cmdutil.NilStringEnum, that uses the cmdutil.stringEnum under the hood. This way we won't need the validate function, and also the error message will be consistent with other commands.

I can help with this one, please let me know.

skipping this one for now to keep the diff focused, but happy to take it on in a follow-up if you'd like.

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit_test.go

babakks · 2026-03-10T11:30:08Z

pkg/cmd/repo/edit/edit_test.go

+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			edits := &EditRepositoryInput{
+				squashMergeCommitMsg: sp(tt.input),


nitpick: since we're on go1.26 now, you can be the first use new instead of our homemade sp. 😉

i looked into this but new(string) only gives you a *string pointing to the zero value. for non-zero values like sp("hello") we'd still need a helper. is there something new in 1.26 i'm missing, or were you thinking of something else?

Yeah, the new syntax also accepts a value to initialise the allocated variable with. See here. I'm going to fix them all in a PR, so feel free to skip this one.

- reorder if checks: validate --enable-squash-merge is set before checking the value, and error when --enable-squash-merge=false - use validSquashMsgValues directly in interactive prompt instead of duplicating the slice - use slices.Contains in validateSquashMergeCommitMsg - interpolate const values in Long description instead of hardcoding - add default clause in transformSquashMergeOpts to avoid mutating title/message on unknown input - move optionDiscussions to end of const block with TODO comment - add test for unknown input and --enable-squash-merge=false case

yuvrajangadsingh · 2026-03-10T13:05:57Z

@babakks addressed all your comments, pushed 198487e. replied inline to each one. skipped the NilStringEnum one for now to keep the diff small, happy to do it as a follow-up. had a question on the sp vs new thing, left it on that thread.

babakks

LGTM! Thanks for your contribution, @yuvrajangadsingh! 🙏

Verified both interactive and non-interactive flows.

github-actions bot added external pull request originating outside of the CLI core team needs-triage needs to be reviewed labels Mar 5, 2026

yuvrajangadsingh marked this pull request as ready for review March 5, 2026 11:27

yuvrajangadsingh requested a review from a team as a code owner March 5, 2026 11:27

yuvrajangadsingh requested a review from BagToad March 5, 2026 11:27

yuvrajangadsingh force-pushed the feat/squash-merge-commit-message branch 3 times, most recently from 0460878 to 4b159bd Compare March 6, 2026 17:36

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yuvrajangadsingh mentioned this pull request Mar 8, 2026

Allow setting squash merge commit message and title in gh repo edit #10092

Closed

babakks mentioned this pull request Mar 9, 2026

repo edit: add squash merge commit title/message flags #12874

Closed

babakks self-requested a review March 9, 2026 17:04

babakks added the ready-for-review label Mar 10, 2026

github-actions bot removed the needs-triage needs to be reviewed label Mar 10, 2026

babakks requested a review from Copilot March 10, 2026 10:32

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of babakks March 10, 2026 10:32 View session

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yuvrajangadsingh added 2 commits March 10, 2026 16:55

fix: gofmt alignment in test struct literals

3baf83a

babakks requested changes Mar 10, 2026

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yuvrajangadsingh force-pushed the feat/squash-merge-commit-message branch from b1c1d77 to 3baf83a Compare March 10, 2026 11:48

yuvrajangadsingh requested a review from babakks March 10, 2026 13:07

babakks approved these changes Mar 10, 2026

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babakks merged commit 8f26730 into cli:trunk Mar 10, 2026
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	// TODO: GitHub Enterprise Server does not support has_discussions yet
	// optionDiscussions = "Discussions"

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