stax 0.8.1 - Docs.rs

stax-0.8.1 is not a library.

Visit the last successful build: stax-0.27.0

What are Stacked Branches?

Instead of one massive PR with 50 files, stacked branches let you split work into small, reviewable pieces that build on each other (and visualize it as a tree).

Why this is great:

Smaller reviews - Each PR is focused, so reviewers move faster and catch more issues
Parallel progress - Keep building on top while lower PRs are still in review
Safer shipping - Merge foundations first; reduce the risk of “one giant PR” landing at once
Cleaner history - Each logical change lands independently (easier to understand, revert, and git blame)

◉  feature/auth-ui 1↑
○  feature/auth-api 1↑
○  main

Each branch is a focused PR. Reviewers see small diffs. You ship faster.

Why stax?

stax is a modern stacked-branch workflow that keeps PRs small, rebases safe, and the whole stack easy to reason about.

Blazing fast - Native Rust binary (~22ms stax ls on a 10-branch stack)
Terminal UX - Interactive TUI with tree view, PR status, diff viewer, and reorder mode
Ship stacks, not mega-PRs - Submit/update a whole stack of PRs with correct bases in one command
Safe history rewriting - Transactional restacks + automatic backups + stax undo / stax redo
Merge the stack for you - Cascade merge bottom → current, with rebase/PR-base updates along the way
Drop-in compatible - Uses freephite metadata format—existing stacks migrate instantly

Install

# Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
brew tap cesarferreira/tap && brew install stax

# Or with cargo binstall
cargo binstall stax

Quick Start

# 1. Authenticate with GitHub
stax auth

# 2. Create stacked branches
stax create auth-api           # First branch off main
stax create auth-ui            # Second branch, stacked on first

# 3. View your stack
stax ls
# ◉  auth-ui 1↑                ← you are here
# ○  auth-api 1↑
# ○  main

# 4. Submit PRs for the whole stack
stax ss
# Creating PR for auth-api... ✓ #12 (targets main)
# Creating PR for auth-ui... ✓ #13 (targets auth-api)

# 5. After reviews, sync and rebase
stax rs --restack

Interactive Branch Creation

Run stax create without arguments to launch the guided wizard:

$ stax create

╭─ Create Stacked Branch ─────────────────────────────╮
│ Parent: feature/auth (current branch)               │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

? Branch name: auth-validation

? What to include:
  ● Stage all changes (3 files modified)
  ○ Empty branch (no changes)

? Commit message (Enter to skip): Validate auth tokens

✓ Created cesar/auth-validation
  → Stacked on feature/auth

Interactive TUI

Run stax with no arguments to launch the interactive terminal UI:

stax

TUI Features:

Visual stack tree with PR status, sync indicators, and commit counts
Full diff viewer for each branch
Keyboard-driven: checkout, restack, submit PRs, create/rename/delete branches
Reorder mode: Rearrange branches in your stack with o then Shift+↑/↓

Key	Action
`↑/↓`	Navigate branches
`Enter`	Checkout branch
`r`	Restack selected branch
`s`	Submit stack
`o`	Enter reorder mode (reparent branches)
`n`	Create new branch
`d`	Delete branch
`?`	Show all keybindings

Reorder Mode

Rearrange branches within your stack without manually running reparent commands:

Select a branch and press o to enter reorder mode
Use Shift+↑/↓ to move the branch up or down in the stack
Preview shows which reparent operations will happen
Press Enter to apply changes and automatically restack

Split Mode

Split a branch with many commits into multiple stacked branches:

stax split

How it works:

Run stax split on a branch with multiple commits
Navigate commits with j/k or arrows
Press s to mark a split point and enter a branch name
Preview shows the resulting branch structure in real-time
Press Enter to execute - new branches are created with proper metadata

Key	Action
`j/k` or `↑/↓`	Navigate commits
`s`	Mark split point at cursor (enter branch name)
`d`	Remove split point at cursor
`Enter`	Execute split
`?`	Show help
`q/Esc`	Cancel and quit

Example: You have a branch with commits A→B→C→D→E. Mark splits after B ("part1") and D ("part2"):

Before:                    After:
main                       main
  └─ my-feature (A-E)        └─ part1 (A, B)
                                 └─ part2 (C, D)
                                      └─ my-feature (E)

Split uses the transaction system, so you can stax undo if needed.

Core Commands

Command	What it does
`stax`	Launch interactive TUI
`stax ls`	Show your stack with PR status and what needs rebasing
`stax create <name>`	Create a new branch stacked on current
`stax ss`	Submit stack - push all branches and create/update PRs
`stax merge`	Merge PRs from bottom of stack up to current branch
`stax rs`	Repo sync - pull trunk, clean up merged branches
`stax rs --restack`	Sync and rebase all branches onto updated trunk
`stax co`	Interactive branch checkout with fuzzy search
`stax u` / `stax d`	Move up/down the stack
`stax m`	Modify - stage all changes and amend current commit
`stax pr`	Open current branch's PR in browser
`stax copy`	Copy branch name to clipboard
`stax copy --pr`	Copy PR URL to clipboard
`stax standup`	Show your recent activity for standups
`stax undo`	Undo last operation (restack, submit, etc.)

Standup Summary

Struggling to remember what you worked on yesterday? Run stax standup to get a quick summary of your recent activity:

Standup Summary

Shows your merged PRs, opened PRs, recent pushes, and anything that needs attention - perfect for daily standups.

stax standup              # Last 24 hours (default)
stax standup --hours 48   # Look back further
stax standup --json       # For scripting

Safe History Rewriting with Undo

Stax makes rebasing and force-pushing safe with automatic backups and one-command recovery:

# Make a mistake while restacking? No problem.
stax restack
# ✗ conflict in feature/auth
# Your repo is recoverable via: stax undo

# Instantly restore to before the restack
stax undo
# ✓ Undone! Restored 3 branch(es).

How It Works

Every potentially-destructive operation (restack, submit, sync --restack, TUI reorder) is transactional:

Snapshot - Before touching anything, stax records the current commit SHA of each affected branch
Backup refs - Creates Git refs at refs/stax/backups/<op-id>/<branch> pointing to original commits
Execute - Performs the operation (rebase, force-push, etc.)
Receipt - Saves an operation receipt to .git/stax/ops/<op-id>.json

If anything goes wrong, stax undo reads the receipt and restores all branches to their exact prior state.

Undo & Redo Commands

Command	Description
`stax undo`	Undo the last operation
`stax undo <op-id>`	Undo a specific operation
`stax redo`	Redo (re-apply) the last undone operation

Flags:

--yes - Auto-approve prompts (useful for scripts)
--no-push - Only restore local branches, don't touch remote

Remote Recovery

If the undone operation had force-pushed branches, stax will prompt:

stax undo
# ✓ Restored 2 local branch(es)
# This operation force-pushed 2 branch(es) to remote.
# Force-push to restore remote branches too? [y/N]

Use --yes to auto-approve or --no-push to skip remote restoration.

Real-World Example

You're building a payments feature. Instead of one 2000-line PR:

# Start the foundation
stax create payments-models
# ... write database models, commit ...

# Stack the API layer on top
stax create payments-api
# ... write API endpoints, commit ...

# Stack the UI on top of that
stax create payments-ui
# ... write React components, commit ...

# View your stack
stax ls
# ◉  payments-ui 1↑           ← you are here
# ○  payments-api 1↑
# ○  payments-models 1↑
# ○  main

# Submit all 3 as separate PRs (each targeting its parent)
stax ss
# Creating PR for payments-models... ✓ #101 (targets main)
# Creating PR for payments-api... ✓ #102 (targets payments-models)
# Creating PR for payments-ui... ✓ #103 (targets payments-api)

Reviewers can now review 3 small PRs instead of one giant one. When payments-models is approved and merged:

stax rs --restack
# ✓ Pulled latest main
# ✓ Cleaned up payments-models (merged)
# ✓ Rebased payments-api onto main
# ✓ Rebased payments-ui onto payments-api
# ✓ Updated PR #102 to target main

Cascade Stack Merge

Merge your entire stack with one command! stax merge intelligently merges PRs from the bottom of your stack up to your current branch, handling rebases and PR updates automatically.

How It Works

Stack:  main ← PR-A ← PR-B ← PR-C ← PR-D

Position        │ What gets merged
────────────────┼─────────────────────────────
On PR-A         │ Just PR-A (1 PR)
On PR-B         │ PR-A, then PR-B (2 PRs)
On PR-C         │ PR-A → PR-B → PR-C (3 PRs)
On PR-D (top)   │ Entire stack (4 PRs)

The merge scope depends on your current branch:

Bottom of stack: Merges just that one PR
Middle of stack: Merges all PRs from bottom up to current
Top of stack: Merges the entire stack

Example Usage

# View your stack
stax ls
# ◉  payments-ui 1↑           ← you are here
# ○  payments-api 1↑
# ○  payments-models 1↑
# ○  main

# Merge all 3 PRs into main
stax merge

You'll see an interactive preview before merging:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                    Stack Merge                       │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

You are on: payments-ui (PR #103)

This will merge 3 PRs from bottom → current:

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  1. payments-models (#101)       ✓ Ready        │
  │     ├─ CI: ✓ passed                             │
  │     ├─ Reviews: ✓ 2/2 approved                  │
  │     └─ Merges into: main                        │
  ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │  2. payments-api (#102)          ✓ Ready        │
  │     ├─ CI: ✓ passed                             │
  │     ├─ Reviews: ✓ 1/1 approved                  │
  │     └─ Merges into: main (after rebase)         │
  ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │  3. payments-ui (#103)           ✓ Ready        │  ← you are here
  │     ├─ CI: ✓ passed                             │
  │     ├─ Reviews: ✓ 1/1 approved                  │
  │     └─ Merges into: main (after rebase)         │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Merge method: squash (change with --method)

? Proceed with merge? [y/N]

What Happens During Merge

For each PR in the stack (bottom to top):

Wait for CI - Polls until CI passes (or use --no-wait to skip)
Merge - Merges the PR using your chosen method (squash/merge/rebase)
Rebase next - Rebases the next PR onto updated main
Update PR base - Changes the next PR's target from the merged branch to main
Push - Force-pushes the rebased branch
Repeat - Continues until all PRs are merged

If anything fails (CI, conflicts, permissions), the merge stops safely. Already-merged PRs remain merged, and you can fix the issue and run stax merge again to continue.

Merge Options

# Merge with preview only (no actual merge)
stax merge --dry-run

# Merge entire stack regardless of current position
stax merge --all

# Choose merge strategy
stax merge --method squash    # (default) Squash and merge
stax merge --method merge     # Create merge commit
stax merge --method rebase    # Rebase and merge

# Skip CI polling (fail if not ready)
stax merge --no-wait

# Keep branches after merge (don't delete)
stax merge --no-delete

# Set custom CI timeout (default: 30 minutes)
stax merge --timeout 60

# Skip confirmation prompt
stax merge --yes

Partial Stack Merge

You can merge just part of your stack by checking out a middle branch:

# Stack: main ← auth ← auth-api ← auth-ui ← auth-tests
stax checkout auth-api

# This merges only: auth, auth-api (not auth-ui or auth-tests)
stax merge

# Remaining branches (auth-ui, auth-tests) are rebased onto main
# Run stax merge again later to merge those too

Import Your Open PRs

Already have open PRs on GitHub that aren't tracked by stax? Import them all at once:

stax branch track --all-prs

This command:

Fetches all your open PRs from GitHub
Downloads any missing branches from remote
Sets up tracking with the correct parent (based on each PR's target branch)
Stores PR metadata for each branch

Perfect for onboarding an existing repository or after cloning a fresh copy.

Working with Multiple Stacks

You can have multiple independent stacks at once:

# You're working on auth...
stax create auth
stax create auth-login
stax create auth-validation

# Teammate needs urgent bugfix reviewed - start a new stack
stax co main                   # or: stax t
stax create hotfix-payment

# View everything
stax ls
# ○  auth-validation 1↑
# ○  auth-login 1↑
# ○  auth 1↑
# │ ◉  hotfix-payment 1↑      ← you are here
# ○─┘  main

Navigation

Command	What it does
`stax u`	Move up to child branch
`stax d`	Move down to parent branch
`stax u 3`	Move up 3 branches
`stax top`	Jump to tip of current stack
`stax bottom`	Jump to base of stack (first branch above trunk)
`stax t`	Jump to trunk (main/master)
`stax prev`	Toggle to previous branch (like `git checkout -`)
`stax co`	Interactive picker with fuzzy search

Reading the Stack View

○        feature/validation 1↑
◉        feature/auth 2↑ 1↓ ⟳
│ ○    ☁ feature/payments PR #42
○─┘    ☁ main

Symbol	Meaning
`◉`	Current branch
`○`	Other branch
`☁`	Has remote tracking
`1↑`	1 commit ahead of parent
`1↓`	1 commit behind parent
`⟳`	Needs restacking (parent changed)
`PR #42`	Has open PR

Configuration

stax config  # Show config path and current settings

Config at ~/.config/stax/config.toml:

[branch]
prefix = "cesar/"      # Auto-prefix branches: "auth" → "cesar/auth"

[remote]
name = "origin"
provider = "github"    # github, gitlab, gitea

[ui]
tips = true            # Show contextual suggestions (default: true)

GitHub Authentication

stax looks for a GitHub token in the following order (first found wins):

STAX_GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
Credentials file (~/.config/stax/.credentials)

# Option 1: stax-specific env var (highest priority)
export STAX_GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_xxxx"

# Option 2: Standard GitHub env var (works with other tools too)
export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_xxxx"

# Option 3: Interactive setup (saves to credentials file)
stax auth

The credentials file is created with 600 permissions (read/write for owner only).

Claude Code Integration

Teach Claude Code how to use stax by installing the skills file:

# Create skills directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills

# Download the stax skills file
curl -o ~/.claude/skills/stax.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cesarferreira/stax/main/skills.md

This enables Claude Code to help you with stax workflows, create stacked branches, submit PRs, and more.

Freephite/Graphite Compatibility

stax uses the same metadata format as freephite and supports similar commands:

freephite	stax	graphite	stax
`fp ss`	`stax ss`	`gt submit`	`stax submit`
`fp rs`	`stax rs`	`gt sync`	`stax sync`
`fp bc`	`stax bc`	`gt create`	`stax create`
`fp bco`	`stax bco`	`gt checkout`	`stax co`
`fp bu`	`stax bu`	`gt up`	`stax u`
`fp bd`	`stax bd`	`gt down`	`stax d`
`fp ls`	`stax ls`	`gt log`	`stax log`

Migration is instant - just install stax and your existing stacks work.

All Commands

Stack Operations

Command	Alias	Description
`stax status`	`s`, `ls`	Show stack (simple view)
`stax log`	`l`	Show stack with commits and PR info
`stax submit`	`ss`	Push and create/update PRs
`stax merge`		Merge PRs from bottom of stack to current
`stax sync`	`rs`	Pull trunk, delete merged branches
`stax restack`		Rebase current branch onto parent
`stax diff`		Show diffs for each branch vs parent
`stax range-diff`		Show range-diff for branches needing restack

Branch Management

Command	Alias	Description
`stax create <name>`	`c`, `bc`	Create stacked branch
`stax checkout`	`co`, `bco`	Interactive branch picker
`stax modify`	`m`	Stage all + amend current commit
`stax rename`	`b r`	Rename branch and optionally edit commit message
`stax branch track`		Track an existing branch
`stax branch track --all-prs`		Track all your open PRs
`stax branch reparent`		Change parent of a branch
`stax branch delete`		Delete a branch
`stax branch fold`		Fold branch into parent
`stax branch squash`		Squash commits on branch

Navigation

Command	Alias	Description
`stax up [n]`	`u`, `bu`	Move up n branches
`stax down [n]`	`d`, `bd`	Move down n branches
`stax top`		Move to stack tip
`stax bottom`		Move to stack base
`stax trunk`	`t`	Switch to trunk
`stax prev`	`p`	Toggle to previous branch

Interactive

Command	Description
`stax`	Launch interactive TUI
`stax split`	Interactive TUI to split branch into multiple stacked branches

Recovery

Command	Description
`stax undo`	Undo last operation (restack, submit, etc.)
`stax undo <op-id>`	Undo a specific operation by ID
`stax redo`	Re-apply the last undone operation

Utilities

Command	Description
`stax auth`	Set GitHub token
`stax config`	Show configuration
`stax doctor`	Check repo health
`stax continue`	Continue after resolving conflicts
`stax pr`	Open PR in browser
`stax ci`	Show CI status for branches in current stack
`stax ci --all`	Show CI status for all tracked branches
`stax ci --json`	Output CI status as JSON
`stax copy`	Copy branch name to clipboard
`stax copy --pr`	Copy PR URL to clipboard
`stax comments`	Show PR comments with rendered markdown
`stax comments --plain`	Show PR comments as raw markdown
`stax standup`	Show your recent activity for standups
`stax standup --hours 48`	Look back 48 hours instead of default 24
`stax standup --json`	Output activity as JSON for scripting

Common Flags

stax create -m "msg" - Create branch with commit message
stax create -a - Stage all changes
stax create -am "msg" - Stage all and commit
stax rename new-name - Rename current branch
stax rename -e - Rename and edit commit message
stax submit --draft - Create PRs as drafts
stax submit --yes - Auto-approve prompts
stax submit --no-prompt - Use defaults, skip interactive prompts
stax submit --reviewers alice,bob - Add reviewers
stax submit --labels bug,urgent - Add labels
stax submit --assignees alice - Assign users
stax merge --all - Merge entire stack
stax merge --method squash - Choose merge method (squash/merge/rebase)
stax merge --dry-run - Preview merge without executing
stax merge --no-wait - Don't wait for CI, fail if not ready
stax sync --restack - Sync and rebase all branches
stax status --json - Output as JSON
stax undo --yes - Undo without prompts
stax undo --no-push - Undo locally only, skip remote

CI/Automation example:

stax submit --draft --yes --no-prompt
stax merge --yes --method squash

Benchmarks

Command	stax	freephite	graphite
`ls` (10-branch stack)	22.8ms	369.5ms	209.1ms

Raw hyperfine results:

➜ hyperfine 'stax ls' 'fp ls' 'gt ls' --warmup 3
Benchmark 1: stax ls
  Time (mean ± σ):      22.8 ms ±   1.0 ms    [User: 9.0 ms, System: 11.3 ms]
  Range (min … max):    21.1 ms …  26.9 ms    112 runs

Benchmark 2: fp ls
  Time (mean ± σ):     369.5 ms ±   7.0 ms    [User: 268.8 ms, System: 184.2 ms]
  Range (min … max):   360.7 ms … 380.4 ms    10 runs

Benchmark 3: gt ls
  Time (mean ± σ):     209.1 ms ±   2.8 ms    [User: 152.5 ms, System: 52.6 ms]
  Range (min … max):   205.9 ms … 215.7 ms    13 runs

Summary
  stax ls ran
   9.18 ± 0.43 times faster than gt ls
   16.23 ± 0.79 times faster than fp ls

ls benchmark

License

MIT