Lesson 13

Merge Requests

A merge request is a hosted proposal to review a pushed branch before a Git merge updates the target branch.

main...feature/loginNot inspected

app.js+24-0
style.css+8-0

Run the comparison

Ready to run git diff --stat main...feature/login.

Keep These Ideas

Proposal First: Teammates discuss, test, and approve the branch before it is merged.
Platform Feature: GitLab calls it a merge request; GitHub calls it a pull request. Git itself stores branches and commits.
Merge Comes Later: The target branch, usually main, changes only when the proposed work is actually merged.

The Real Command

Terminal

$git diff --stat main...feature/login

Example Output

 app.js    | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 style.css |  8 ++++++++
 2 files changed, 32 insertions(+)

This local command summarizes what feature/login changed since it split from main. It helps prepare a review, but it does not open a merge request.

git diff main...feature/login

Three dots compare from the shared base. It shows the feature's changes since the branches split.

Example Diff Excerpt

diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
+function validateLogin() {
+  return email.length > 0;
+}

git diff --name-status main...feature/login

--name-status lists file-level changes. M means modified and A means added.

Example Output

M app.js
A login.html

git log --oneline main..feature/login

Review the feature commits. It lists commits present on the feature branch but not on main.

Example Output

7f3a91c Validate login form
4d2bc08 Add login form

Knowledge Check

Review Before a Merge

Prepare a pushed branch for hosted review without confusing the proposal with Git's merge operation.

Question 1 of 5

Question 1: current
Question 2: not started
Question 3: not started
Question 4: not started
Question 5: not started

Visual Explanation

Keep These Ideas

Command Details

Review Before a Merge

Show a compact file-and-line summary of work added on feature/login since it split from main.