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gh merge pr -s -d does not delete PR branch if on a fork different from base branch #2860

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gh merge pr -s -d does not delete PR branch if on a fork different from base branch#2860
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bugSomething isn't workinggh-prrelating to the gh pr commandpriority-3Affects a small number of users or is largely cosmetic

Description

@VRanga000
VRanga000
opened on Jan 27, 2021

Describe the bug

 ❯ gh --version
gh version 1.5.0 (2021-01-21)
https://github.com/cli/cli/releases/tag/v1.5.0

When merging a PR from a branch on a different fork (than the base branch) with squash and delete enabled via the gh cli causes the PR to be merged with a squashed commit, but the source branch is not deleted either locally or remotely.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

  1. Create a PR from a branch on a fork different from the base branch.
  2. Merge the PR via the cli with squash and delete-branch enabled: gh merge pr -s -d xx
  3. The PR should get merged and the source branch deleted locally and remotely.

Expected vs actual behavior

Expected result:
The PR should get merged and the source branch deleted locally and remotely.

Actual result:
The PR gets merged but the source branch are not deleted locally or remotely.

Logs

 ❯ gh pr merge -s -d 50
✔ Squashed and merged pull request #50 (Various updates)

 ❯ gbd feature/updates                                                                                                                 
warning: deleting branch 'feature/updates' that has been merged to
         'refs/remotes/origin/feature/updates', but not yet merged to HEAD.
Deleted branch feature/updates (was 0d02dc6).

 ❯ gp origin :feature/updates                                                                                                          To github.comcast.com:VRanga000/pulumi.git
 - [deleted]         feature/updates

Activity

  1. VRanga000
    added
    bugSomething isn't working
    on Jan 27, 2021

  2. mislav commented on Jan 27, 2021

    @mislav
    mislav
    on Jan 27, 2021
    Contributor

    Thank you for reporting!

    We currently avoid trying to delete a branch if the PR is cross-repo because an OSS maintainer who is merging cross-repo PRs typically doesn't have permissions to delete the branch in a fork that they don't own. However, we could also try to detect branch permissions and allow you to delete your branch even for PRs that are cross-repo. 👍

  3. mislav
    added
    help wantedContributions welcome
    priority-3Affects a small number of users or is largely cosmetic
    on Jan 27, 2021
  4. samcoe
    added
    gh-prrelating to the gh pr command
    on Oct 2, 2023
  5. mxie
    removed
    help wantedContributions welcome
    on Apr 10, 2025

  6. TyceHerrman commented on Aug 10, 2026

    @TyceHerrman
    TyceHerrman
    on Aug 10, 2026

    Related GitHub product-feedback discussion: community#201691

    requests an opt-in way to automatically delete a source branch in a contributor's fork after its pull request is merged into the upstream repository

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