Table of contents

• What is a GitHub pull request merged event?
• Automating post-merge workflows with GitHub Actions
• Practical use cases for GitHub Actions pull request merged event
• Integrating Graphite into your GitHub workflow
• Advanced tips for managing pull request merged events
• Conclusion

Automating post-merge workflows is crucial for efficiency and maintaining consistency in software development. This guide covers how to set up automated processes that trigger when pull requests are merged using GitHub Actions and discusses how tools like Graphite can streamline these workflows.

What is a GitHub pull request merged event?

A GitHub pull request merged event occurs when a PR is successfully integrated into the target branch. Triggering automations upon this event can improve workflow efficiency, such as automatically deploying code or updating issue statuses.

Automating post-merge workflows with GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions provides a straightforward way to automate tasks based on a pull request merge event (pull_request event type with the closed state and merged status).

Here's a basic example workflow:

name: PR Merged Workflow

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [closed]

jobs:
  merged-job:
    if: github.event.pull_request.merged == true
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Run Post-Merge Tasks
        run: |
          echo "Pull request #${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} has been merged!"
          # Your custom commands here

Practical use cases for GitHub Actions pull request merged event

1. Automated deployments

Deploy code automatically to production or staging environments upon merging PRs to the main branch, ensuring continuous delivery and reducing manual overhead.

2. Issue management

Automatically close related GitHub issues or update their status when associated pull requests merge.

• name: Close linked issues run: | ISSUE_NUMBERS=$(grep -oE '#[0-9]+' <<< "${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}" | grep -oE '[0-9]+') if [ -n "$ISSUE_NUMBERS" ]; then for ISSUE in $ISSUE_NUMBERS; do gh issue close $ISSUE --repo ${{ github.repository }} done else echo "No issue references found in PR body" fi

3. Notifications and integrations

Integrate notifications to Slack, email, or project management tools to notify team members when significant PR merges occur.

Integrating Graphite into your GitHub workflow

Graphite simplifies handling stacked pull requests and can seamlessly integrate with your existing GitHub Actions workflows. Upon merging stacked PRs, Graphite automates rebasing and updating dependent pull requests, ensuring efficient PR management.

For example, after merging PRs managed via Graphite, you might use a GitHub Action to trigger rebase checks or notify teams about changes in dependent PRs.

Advanced tips for managing pull request merged events

• Conditional workflow execution: Use conditional expressions to ensure your actions run only when specific branches or file types are merged.
• Efficient environment management: Manage your deployment environments more efficiently by specifying targeted environments based on the branch or type of merge event.

Conclusion

Effectively handling GitHub pull request merged events can significantly streamline your development and deployment workflows. By implementing automated testing, deployment pipelines, issue management, and team notifications, you can create a more efficient development process. Furthermore, incorporating GitHub Actions and leveraging tools like Graphite enables teams to maintain efficient, automated processes while reducing manual overhead. Start by implementing one automation at a time, measure its impact, and gradually build a comprehensive workflow that suits your team's specific needs.