GitHub Pull Request Cherry-Pick CLI

A CLI utility written in Go that allows you to cherry-pick entire GitHub pull requests to a destination branch. GitHub doesn't have this functionality ready-to-use, so this project solves that problem by automating the cherry-pick process while preserving the original PR's metadata.

Prerequisites

• Go (for building the utility)
• GitHub CLI (gh) - must be pre-configured and authenticated
• Git repository with proper access permissions

Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

go install github.com/theyoprst/gh-cp/cmd/gh-cp@latest

This will download, build, and install the gh-cp binary to your $(go env GOPATH)/bin directory.

Alternative: Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/theyoprst/gh-cp.git
cd gh-cp

# Build and install
make install

Verify Installation

# Check if gh-cp is available
gh-cp --help

Note: Make sure your $(go env GOPATH)/bin is in your system's $PATH environment variable.

Upgrading

The standard go install github.com/theyoprst/gh-cp/cmd/gh-cp@latest command won't upgrade if you already have the same version installed. Use one of these methods to force an upgrade:

Recommended: Force Rebuild

go install -a github.com/theyoprst/gh-cp/cmd/gh-cp@latest

Alternative: Clear Build Cache

go clean -cache && go install github.com/theyoprst/gh-cp/cmd/gh-cp@latest

Nuclear Option: Clear Module Cache

go clean -modcache && go install github.com/theyoprst/gh-cp/cmd/gh-cp@latest

Note: The -modcache option removes all cached Go modules and will cause slower builds for all Go projects until modules are re-downloaded.

Third-Party Tools

For users managing many Go binaries, consider tools like gup which can update all Go binaries automatically:

# Install gup
go install github.com/nao1215/gup@latest

# Update all Go binaries
gup update

Usage

gh-cp <pull-request-number> <target-branch> [--dry-run]

Parameters:

• pull-request-number - The number of the merged pull request to cherry-pick
• target-branch - The destination branch to cherry-pick the changes to (can be branch or remote/branch format)
• --dry-run - (Optional) Preview mode: shows what would be done without making any remote changes
• --skip-merged-check - (Optional) Skip check that PR is merged (use with caution when cherry-picking unmerged PRs)

Examples:

# Cherry-pick PR #1319 to release/v2.1 branch
gh-cp 1319 release/v2.1

# Cherry-pick PR #1319 to origin/release/v2.1 branch
gh-cp 1319 origin/release/v2.1

# Preview the cherry-pick operation without making changes
gh-cp 1319 release/v2.1 --dry-run

# Cherry-pick an unmerged PR (use with caution)
gh-cp 1319 release/v2.1 --skip-merged-check

How It Works

1. Fetches PR Information: Uses gh pr view 1319 --json "number,title,body,state,baseRefName,mergeCommit,commits,labels" to retrieve all information about the pull request

2. Validates PR State: Ensures the PR is merged (cherry-picking unmerged changes is not supported)

3. Fetches Remote State: Automatically fetches the latest state of the target branch from the remote

4. Creates Isolated Worktree: Creates a temporary git worktree to perform operations without affecting your current working directory, allowing cherry-picking even with uncommitted changes

5. Creates New Branch: Creates a new branch with the naming pattern cherry-pick-to/target-branch/from/original-branch. If the branch already exists, adds incremental suffixes (/0, /1, etc.)

6. Cherry-picks Changes: Applies all commits from the original PR to the new branch in the isolated worktree

7. Creates New PR: Pushes changes and creates a new pull request targeting the specified branch with:

   • Title prefixed with [cherry-pick]
   • Body prefixed with a reference message linking to the original PR
   • All original labels copied over
   • Same description as the original PR
   • Base branch set to the target branch you specified

Current Limitations

• Conflict Resolution: The tool does not automatically resolve merge conflicts. If conflicts occur during cherry-picking, the tool will leave the worktree in place and provide instructions for manual resolution
• Merged PRs Only: By default, only works with merged pull requests (use --skip-merged-check to override)

Conflict Resolution

When cherry-pick conflicts occur, the tool will:

1. Leave the temporary worktree in place (usually in /tmp/gh-cp-worktree-*)
2. Display the worktree path and provide step-by-step manual resolution instructions
3. Exit with an error message containing all necessary commands to complete the process

Example Workflow

# Cherry-pick PR #1319 to the release/v2.1 branch
gh-cp 1319 release/v2.1

This will:

1. Fetch information about PR #1319
2. Create a temporary worktree to isolate operations
3. Create a unique branch name like cherry-pick-to/release-v2.1/from/feature-branch-name/0 (incrementing the suffix if needed)
4. Cherry-pick all commits from PR #1319 in the isolated worktree
5. Push the new branch (with force to handle conflicts)
6. Create a new PR from the cherry-pick branch → release/v2.1 titled [cherry-pick] Original PR Title with a link back to PR #1319
7. Clean up the temporary worktree

Dry-Run Mode

Use --dry-run to preview operations without making any remote changes:

gh-cp 1319 release/v2.1 --dry-run

In dry-run mode, the tool will:

• ✅ Fetch PR information and validate it's merged
• ✅ Create temporary worktree and cherry-pick commits
• 🔍 Show push command that would be executed (from worktree)
• 🔍 Show PR creation command that would be executed
• ✅ Clean up temporary worktree (your working directory remains untouched)

Development

Building from Source

# Build the binary
make build

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

Code Quality

# Run linters
make lint

# Auto-fix linting issues where possible
make lint-fix

Testing

# Run tests
make test

Installation

# Build and install to $(go env GOPATH)/bin
make install

Project Structure

• cmd/gh-cp/ - Main application entry point
• internal/github/ - GitHub API integration
• internal/git/ - Git operations
• internal/cherry/ - Core cherry-pick logic