Allow reviews but disable merging PRs into non-main branch

[Olshansk]

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tl;dr Is there a way to disallow merging PRs into a branch other than main?

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Here is an example of a workflow our team has:

1. Create PR (PR1) from branch1 against main
2. Create PR (PR2) from branch2 against branch1
3. PR1 & PR2 are being reviewed in parallel
4. Squash & Merge PR1 into main
5. Merge branch2 with main
6. Update the base of PR2 to main
7. Finish review of PR2
8. Squash & Merge PR2 into main

Here is something I've seen happen multiple times:

• Order of (6) & (7) varies depending on the result of (3)
• Engineers forget to do (6)
• Step (8) ends up merging PR2 into branch1
• A new PR is created from branch2 into main that's approved blindly

None of this is ultra critical, but issues & timing compounds:

• Missing code changes
• Operational overhead

Is there a configuration where I can say: "Only allow squash & merging into main"?

[samuelreichor]

@Olshansk Hi, you can configure "Only allow squash & merging into main" in your general repo settings

There is no direct setting to prevent the above things to happen. But you can enforce the rule that all pull requests must target the main branch by configuring the following:

1. Go to your repository's settings.
2. Under Branches, create or edit a branch protection rule for the main branch.
3. In the rule, you can enforce that all PRs must be merged into the main branch.
4. Now you can disallow direct pushes to main and require pull request reviews before merging into main and dismiss a pr when something changes.

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