Table of contents

• Why rerun pull request checks?
• Ways to rerun checks on GitHub pull requests
• Example: Automate reruns with GitHub Actions
• Compare rerun options
• How Graphite improves your PR rerun workflow
• Summary

When automated pull request checks—like CI builds or GitHub Actions—fail, you'll sometimes want to re-run them without modifying the code. GitHub shows these checks in the Checks tab of the PR, and rerunning them ensures the code meets quality or build requirements.

Why rerun pull request checks?

You may want to rerun pull request checks for several reasons:

• Intermittent test failures ("flakes")
• Environment-related issues (e.g. transient network or infra problems)
• Dependency or base branch changes that affect builds
• Manual triggers to unblock merges or confirm fixes

By rerunning PR checks, you ensure your pull request remains mergeable without needing unnecessary code changes.

Ways to rerun checks on GitHub pull requests

Use GitHub's UI

1. Go to the Checks tab in the PR.
2. Locate a failed (or completed) job.
3. Click Re-run jobs or Re-run all jobs.

This reruns the checks on the current commit without pushing new code.

Push an empty commit

If you prefer using Git or want to avoid the UI:

git checkout your-feature-branch
git commit --allow-empty -m "github pr rerun checks"
git push

This creates a no-op commit that triggers your CI system.

Amend and force-push

This also forces a rerun by changing the commit hash, even if no code changes:

git commit --amend --no-edit
git push --force

NOTE: Use this only if you're comfortable rewriting commit history.

Close and reopen the pull request

Closing and reopening a PR triggers all status checks again. It's a quick option when other methods aren't available, though it may briefly disrupt the PR timeline or review context.

Use an automated GitHub Action

You can choose or create a GitHub Action to rerun specific checks automatically under defined conditions. For example, rerunning on approval.

Example: Automate reruns with GitHub Actions

To trigger reruns after a PR gets approved:

# .github/workflows/rerun-on-approval.yml
on:
  pull_request_review:
    types: [submitted]

jobs:
  rerun_checks:
    if: github.event.review.state == 'approved'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: shqear93/rerun-checks@v3
        with:
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          check-names: 'build, test'

This uses a community action to trigger reruns based on review state.

Compare rerun options

How Graphite improves your PR rerun workflow

Graphite helps you break up your work into smaller, more easily reviewable stacked pull requests. With smaller, atomic changes, you:

• Reduce the need to rerun large CI jobs repeatedly
• Only rerun checks on the affected PR, not downstream ones in the stack
• Stay unblocked by flaky CI using gt sync and autosync logic

Graphite's CLI (gt) makes pushing, rebasing, and syncing PRs efficient, so triggering "github pr rerun checks" becomes more reliable. If a PR in the middle of your stack has failed checks, rerun just that layer using any of the above methods and Graphite will handle the rest.

Summary

When working with pull requests, you'll often want to re-run checks without changing your code. GitHub offers several ways to do this, including using the UI, Git CLI, force-push, closing and reopening the PR, or setting up automation. Tools like Graphite make it easier to manage multiple PRs and CI interactions, especially when working with stacked pull requests. By leveraging automation, you can streamline the rerun process and maintain a smooth, efficient PR workflow.