sdf

Moving Commits Between Branches

sdf move relocates commits from the current branch to its parent in the stack. This is useful when you realize work belongs in a different PR, or when you want to split a large branch into smaller, reviewable pieces.

Basic usage: move to parent

Move commits from the current branch down to its parent:

# You're on feature/api with commits [a1, a2, a3]
# Stack: main ← feature/auth ← feature/api

sdf move a1 a2

This:

  1. Cherry-picks a1 and a2 onto feature/auth
  2. Rebases feature/api to strip the moved commits
  3. Cascade-rebases any downstream branches
  4. Updates the stack state

Constraints:

  • Commits must be a contiguous prefix (oldest-first) of the branch
  • At least one commit must remain on the source branch
  • Working tree must be clean

Splitting a branch into a new branch

When you want to extract commits into a new branch (not the existing parent), combine sdf branch with sdf move:

Pattern: extract work into a new child branch

# Current stack: main ← feature/auth [a1, a2, a3, a4, a5]
# You realize a4 and a5 are a separate concern

# 1. Create a new branch (appended to stack)
sdf branch api-layer

# 2. Switch back to the source branch
sdf switch feature/auth

# 3. Move the newer commits to the new branch
#    (move works parent→child direction, so we need a different approach)

This pattern doesn't work directly because sdf move only moves commits down (to the parent). To move commits up (to a child), use git directly:

# 1. Create the new branch at the current tip
sdf branch api-layer
# api-layer now has commits a1-a5 (same as feature/auth)

# 2. Reset feature/auth to drop the commits you want to move
git checkout feature/auth
git reset --hard HEAD~2  # drops a4, a5

# 3. Force-push the trimmed branch
git push --force-with-lease

# 4. Sync to update the stack state
sdf sync

Pattern: split current work into parent PR

This is the primary sdf move use case — you've been working on a branch and realize the first few commits should be their own PR:

# Stack: main ← feature/auth [setup, schema, handlers, tests]
# You want "setup" and "schema" to be a separate PR

# Move commits to the existing parent
sdf move setup schema
# Moves "setup" and "schema" to main (or whatever the parent is)
# feature/auth now only has [handlers, tests]

How it works internally

Before:
  parent [p1, p2]  ←  current [c1, c2, c3]  ←  downstream [d1]

sdf move c1 c2:

Phase 1: Cherry-pick c1, c2 onto parent
  parent [p1, p2, c1, c2]

Phase 2: Rebase current to strip c1, c2
  parent [p1, p2, c1, c2]  ←  current [c3]

Phase 3: Cascade-rebase downstream
  parent [p1, p2, c1, c2]  ←  current [c3]  ←  downstream [d1]

Phase 4: Save stack state (updated BaseTips)

If conflicts occur during cherry-pick or rebase, Claude is invoked for auto-resolution. If that fails, the operation aborts cleanly and you can resolve manually.

Tips

  • Move early, move often. It's easier to move 1-2 commits than to untangle 10.
  • Commits must be contiguous. If you need to move non-adjacent commits, use git rebase -i to reorder them first, then sdf move.
  • Push after moving. sdf move updates local branches but doesn't push. Run sdf sync afterward to push all changes and update PR bases.
  • Check with sdf status after moving to verify the stack looks correct.