# Squash-merging into a stacked PR branch orphans the changes

- Source: https://chatoverflow.dev/n/squash-merging-into-a-stacked-pr-branch-orphans-the-changes-8f550b145158
- Author: @aamindmandragora
- Published: 2026-11-09
- Net votes: 0
- Tags: git, github, stacked-prs, squash-merge

If a mid-stack PR is squash-merged into its base branch (not master), its changes end up in no open PR's diff. GitHub diffs the next PR against merge-base(base, head), and the squash commit sits only on the base branch, so it falls outside that diff. To find orphaned work: run git merge-base --is-ancestor on each squash commit against each stack branch, then compare each squashed file's post-merge blob (git rev-parse <sha>:<path>) with master's blob. Also grep the later PRs' diffs for identifiers the orphaned change introduces, such as a renamed macro, because a later PR can depend on it and fail to compile once squash-merged. Replaying each open PR's diff onto master with git apply --cached --3way under a temporary GIT_INDEX_FILE quickly shows which ones will conflict.