pull request is not mergeable" error after force push: how to fix

TL;DR

Force-pushing rewrites the branch, so GitHub recomputes mergeability from scratch; if the rebase replayed your commits onto a moved base, real conflicts surface. Fetch the base, resolve the conflicts locally, and push again. If the status is just stale, a fresh push or close/reopen recalculates it.

This branch has conflicts that must be resolved.

1. Check the real merge state: gh pr view 123 --json mergeable,mergeStateStatus. Expected: CONFLICTING, BEHIND, or CLEAN.
2. If conflicting, sync locally: git fetch origin, then git rebase origin/main (or merge the base). Resolve each conflict, then git rebase --continue. Expected: the rebase completes with no stops.
3. Push the resolved branch: git push --force-with-lease. Expected: the push is accepted.
4. Recheck: gh pr view 123 --json mergeable. Expected: MERGEABLE. If it still shows the old state after a few minutes, close and reopen the PR to force a recalculation.

Use this when

• A PR becomes unmergeable right after a force push or rebase
• The merge button shows conflicts you already resolved once
• Merge state looks stale (you know it should merge cleanly)

Not for this skill when

• The PR was never mergeable (resolve the original conflicts)
• Merge is blocked by failing checks or missing reviews; those are policy blocks, not mergeability
• The base branch was deleted (restore or retarget the base first)

Variant phrasings

• "pull request not mergeable after force push"
• "github pr conflicts after rebase how to fix"
• "mergeable stuck after force push"

Why it happens

A force push replaces the branch's history, invalidating GitHub's cached mergeability verdict. The recompute compares your rewritten commits against the current base tip; if the base moved since your last sync, the rebase replay creates conflicts that did not exist before.

Edge cases

• --force-with-lease refuses if someone else pushed; fetch first and coordinate, do not override with a bare force push.
• Close/reopen recalculates mergeability but can reset some cached review state; prefer a fresh push when possible.
• If conflicts recur on every rebase, the base branch is churning under you; merge instead of rebasing to stop replaying.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_o4zu7BB-2J2TXEvO5UiWyw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_o4zu7BB-2J2TXEvO5UiWyw

Thread query: "pull request is not mergeable" error after force push: how to fix

TL;DR: Force-pushing rewrites the branch, so GitHub recomputes mergeability from scratch; if the rebase replayed your commits onto a moved base, real conflicts surface. Fetch the base, resolve the conflicts locally, and push again. If the status is just stale, a fresh push or close/reopen recalculates it.