Add base branch editing to PR overview by Copilot · Pull Request #8232 · microsoft/vscode-pull-request-github

Copilot · 2025-12-09T10:43:46Z

Implementation Plan for Base Branch Editing

Summary

Successfully implemented the feature to change the base branch of a Pull Request. The base branch is displayed with code styling inside a clickable secondary button (when the user has edit permissions and PR is open) that triggers the branch selection dialog. Timeline events are created to track base branch changes.

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Change base branch</issue_title>
<issue_description>Issue Type: Feature Request

It is currently possible to edit some values of the PR like the title. It would be nice if you could change the base branch for example as well in case you picked the wrong branch to merge to as a target.

Extension version: 0.17.0
VS Code version: Code - Insiders 1.47.0-insider (376d9d9d785ccca128fdbb16f001446d0ad64d32, 2020-07-03T10:26:01.724Z)
OS version: Darwin x64 18.7.0

<agent_instructions>Add a pencil icon button next to the base branch name in the PR webview. When clicked, a quick pick to choose the base branch should show and let the user pick a new base branch. </agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes Change base branch #1968

💡 You can make Copilot smarter by setting up custom instructions, customizing its development environment and configuring Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Learn more Copilot coding agent tips in the docs.

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

alexr00

Please also give the edit button a 4px top margin

alexr00 · 2025-12-12T09:26:18Z

src/github/pullRequestOverview.ts

+			if (selectedBranch) {
+				try {
+					await this._item.updateBaseBranch(selectedBranch);
+					await this._replyMessage(message, {});


@copilot Include the info about the base branch update in the reply message, and handle that reply message in the tsx so that the header updates properly.

Updated the implementation to include the base branch name in the reply message and handle it in the frontend to update the UI state properly in commit 9465868. The changeBaseBranch method now updates the PR state with the new base branch after receiving the response.

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2025-12-12T09:40:21Z

Please also give the edit button a 4px top margin

Added 4px top margin to the edit button via CSS in commit 9465868.

alexr00

Great, now add the base change timeline event into the timeline events that we always get, and make sure to also include the new timeline event in the ChangeBaseReply.

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2025-12-12T10:51:09Z

Great, now add the base change timeline event into the timeline events that we always get, and make sure to also include the new timeline event in the ChangeBaseReply.

Added BaseRefChanged timeline event support in commit 0633130. The event is now:

Fetched from GraphQL with the BaseRefChangedEvent fragment including currentRefName and previousRefName fields
Parsed and added to timeline events in utils.ts
Displayed in the timeline with a custom view component showing "changed the base branch from [previous] to [current]"
Included in the ChangeBaseReply interface along with all timeline events
Handled in the frontend to update both the base branch and events in the PR state

alexr00

@copilot Instead of using the edit icon button, make the whole base branch look more buttony and put the click action on that.

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2025-12-18T16:55:14Z

@copilot Instead of using the edit icon button, make the whole base branch look more buttony and put the click action on that.

Changed in commit e8ecac6. The edit icon button has been removed and the base branch itself is now a clickable button when the user has edit permissions. The button has hover and active states to indicate interactivity, using VS Code theme colors for consistency.

alexr00

@copilot the text of the base branch button should still have code styling, and the button styling should be like the "Refresh" button.

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2025-12-19T10:39:54Z

@copilot the text of the base branch button should still have code styling, and the button styling should be like the "Refresh" button.

Updated in commit 4e67eca. The base branch button now:

Contains a <code> element with class branch-tag to preserve the code styling
Uses secondary button colors (--vscode-button-secondaryBackground and --vscode-button-secondaryHoverBackground) matching the Refresh button styling
The code element inside has transparent background to inherit the button's background color

Initial plan

9b207d0

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and alexr00 Dec 9, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of alexr00 December 9, 2025 10:44 View session

Copilot AI and others added 5 commits December 9, 2025 10:51

Initial plan for base branch editing feature

58cfdcd

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Add base branch editing functionality

17e05ab

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Fix TypeScript errors in base branch editing feature

4f4fd0e

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Address code review feedback - use immutable GitHubRef update

dd547f8

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Add test for updateBaseBranch method

b8c6062

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Add button to change base branch in PR webview~~ Add base branch editing to PR overview Dec 9, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from alexr00 December 9, 2025 11:16

Copilot finished work on behalf of alexr00 December 9, 2025 11:16

Reuse branch picks code

0a485e6

alexr00 requested changes Dec 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of alexr00 December 12, 2025 09:34 View session

Add 4px top margin to edit button and include base branch in reply

9465868

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI requested a review from alexr00 December 12, 2025 09:42

Copilot finished work on behalf of alexr00 December 12, 2025 09:42

Use a type

d7b7d3b

alexr00 requested changes Dec 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of alexr00 December 12, 2025 10:31 View session

Add BaseRefChanged timeline event and include in ChangeBaseReply

0633130

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI requested a review from alexr00 December 12, 2025 10:53

Copilot finished work on behalf of alexr00 December 12, 2025 10:53

alexr00 requested changes Dec 18, 2025

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of alexr00 December 18, 2025 16:50 View session

Make base branch clickable instead of using edit icon button

e8ecac6

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI requested a review from alexr00 December 18, 2025 17:01

Copilot finished work on behalf of alexr00 December 18, 2025 17:01

alexr00 requested changes Dec 19, 2025

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of alexr00 December 19, 2025 10:34 View session

Use code styling for base branch text and secondary button styling

4e67eca

Co-authored-by: alexr00 <38270282+alexr00@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI requested a review from alexr00 December 19, 2025 10:40

Copilot finished work on behalf of alexr00 December 19, 2025 10:40

alexr00 added 4 commits January 5, 2026 10:12

Fix stying

9fb2cd2

Remove silly test

9566860

Merge branch 'main' into copilot/add-change-base-branch-button

835044c

Fix bad merge

6feb9f7

alexr00 marked this pull request as ready for review January 5, 2026 09:38

alexr00 approved these changes Jan 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

alexr00 enabled auto-merge (squash) January 5, 2026 09:38

vs-code-engineering bot added this to the December / January 2026 milestone Jan 5, 2026

Tyriar approved these changes Jan 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

alexr00 merged commit 5068acc into main Jan 5, 2026
6 checks passed

alexr00 deleted the copilot/add-change-base-branch-button branch January 5, 2026 10:07

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Add base branch editing to PR overview#8232

Add base branch editing to PR overview#8232
alexr00 merged 16 commits intomainfrom
copilot/add-change-base-branch-button

Copilot AI commented Dec 9, 2025 •

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Copilot AI commented Dec 9, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Implementation Plan for Base Branch Editing

Summary

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Copilot AI commented Dec 9, 2025 •

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