How to Auto-Merge a Pull Request With the gh CLI

Auto-merge tells GitHub to merge a pull request automatically once every branch protection requirement is satisfied.

Run gh pr merge --auto to queue the merge; when the queue is enabled, auto-merge enrolls the PR into the queue once its own checks and reviews pass.

Steps

Enable "Allow auto-merge" in Settings to General.
Run gh pr merge <pr> --auto with the merge method flag.
GitHub merges (or queues) the PR once requirements are met.

Enable auto-merge

Terminal

# Squash and auto-merge once checks and reviews pass
gh pr merge 42 --auto --squash

# Cancel a pending auto-merge
gh pr merge 42 --disable-auto

Repository setting

Settings

Settings > General > Pull Requests
  [x] Allow auto-merge

Gotchas

Auto-merge does nothing unless the branch has required checks or reviews to wait on.
With the merge queue on, auto-merge adds the PR to the queue rather than merging it directly.

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