Lesson 9 / 18

Merge Strategies

Merge commit, squash, or rebase — three ways to bring a PR into the base branch.

Merge commit

Creates a merge commit that preserves the full branch history — GitHub's default option.

Squash and merge

Combines every commit on the branch into a single commit on the base branch — keeps main's history clean and linear.

Rebase and merge

Replays the branch's individual commits onto the tip of the base branch without creating a merge commit — linear history, full commit detail.