Gh Stack

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Isolate work for review
• Whenever a user mentions a stack
• A stack is checked out

Example prompts

• “Use the gh-stack skill to manage stacked PRs and splits multi-part work into reviewable branches with gh-stack”
• “/gh-stack”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit a32ddfd. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • gh
  • git

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • cli.github.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Gh Stack loads about 2.3k tokens when it runs, and up to ~7.4k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 85 tokens; SKILL.md has 977 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~85

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.3k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~7.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from vercel/next.js at commit a32ddfd, republished under its MIT licence (© vercel). 977 words, ~2,324 tokens.

name

gh-stack

description

Manages stacked PRs and splits multi-part work into reviewable branches with gh-stack. Use for stack creation, viewing, edits, push, submit, sync, rebase, merge, or checkout; when asked to split or isolate work for review; whenever a user mentions a stack, branch layers, dependent PRs, or gh stack; or when a stack is checked out.

metadata.author

github

metadata.version

0.1.0

(main) <- auth <- api <- frontend

gh extension install github/gh-stack
git config rerere.enabled true         # remember conflict resolutions
git config remote.pushDefault origin   # required if the repo has more than one remote

gh stack down                   # or: gh stack checkout api
git add ... && git commit -m "Add get-user endpoint"
gh stack rebase --upstack       # replay every branch above onto the change
gh stack top                    # return to where you were
gh stack push

gh stack init auth              # create the stack and check out its branch
git add ... && git commit -m "Add auth middleware"
gh stack add api                # next layer, branched from the current one
git add ... && git commit -m "Add API routes"
gh stack submit --auto          # push every branch and open draft PRs
gh stack view --json            # confirm

gh stack sync                   # fetch, reconcile with GitHub, rebase, push, refresh PR state
gh stack sync --prune           # also delete local branches for merged PRs

gh stack merge 42 --yes          # PR #42 plus every unmerged PR below it
gh stack merge 7 --yes           # every unmerged PR in stack #7
gh stack merge 42 --yes --squash # or --merge, --rebase, --merge-method <method>

trunk           string
currentBranch   string
branches[]      name, head, base, isCurrent, isMerged, isQueued, needsRebase
branches[].pr   number, url, state ("OPEN" | "MERGED" | "QUEUED"); absent when no PR exists

© vercel, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files (references) in .agents/skills/gh-stack of vercel/next.js.

• SKILL.md
• references/commands.md
• references/stack-design.md
• references/troubleshooting.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit a32ddfd

Used in 7 other repositories

We found 8 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 7 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in vercel/next.js, which our catalogue first saw on October 8, 2026.

• remotion-dev/remotion.agents/skills/gh-stack
• Arize-ai/phoenix.agents/skills/gh-stack
• devantler-tech/ksail.agents/skills/gh-stack
• CherryHQ/cherry-studio-app.agents/skills/gh-stack
• trycompai/crm.agents/skills/gh-stack
• theexperiencecompany/gaia.agents/skills/gh-stack.claude/skills/gh-stack
• aiskillstore/marketplaceskills/github/gh-stack