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gh merge pr -s -d does not delete PR branch if on a fork different from base branch #2860
Description
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
- Create a PR from a branch on a fork different from the base branch.
- Merge the PR via the cli with squash and delete-branch enabled:
gh merge pr -s -d xx - 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
mislav commentedon Jan 27, 2021
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. 👍
TyceHerrman commentedon 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