Your first stack

Five minutes, two branches, one PR stack. We'll build:

main
└── feat/auth-models       (PR #1)
    └── feat/auth-handlers (PR #2 — base = feat/auth-models)

This walkthrough assumes you already have sm installed and gh authenticated.

1. Start from trunk

git switch main

sm auto-detects your trunk on first invocation (origin/HEAD → main → master) and persists it to git config --local stac-man.trunk. No setup step is required.

2. Create the bottom branch

Branch off and record main as the parent:

sm create feat/auth-models

Edit the files for this branch (e.g. internal/models/user.go) in your editor. Once the working tree has the changes you want, commit and restack descendants in one step:

sm modify -a -m "models: add User and Session"

What just happened:

• sm create branched off main and recorded main as the parent.
• sm modify -a -m staged tracked-but-modified files, committed them, and restacked any descendants. (No descendants yet, so nothing to restack.)

3. Stack the second branch

Branch off the current branch (so the new branch's parent is feat/auth-models):

sm create feat/auth-handlers

Edit the files for this branch (e.g. internal/handlers/login.go), then commit:

sm modify -a -m "handlers: implement /login"

Now sm log shows the chain:

stac-man

main
└─ feat/auth-models
   └─ feat/auth-handlers  ← current

4. Submit as PRs

sm submit --stack

This pushes both branches and opens two PRs through gh:

• PR #1 — feat/auth-models → main
• PR #2 — feat/auth-handlers → feat/auth-models

Re-running sm submit --stack later is idempotent: branches that match origin are skipped, existing PRs are retargeted if their parent changed locally.

5. Iterate

Switch to the bottom branch:

sm checkout feat/auth-models

Edit the files you want to change (e.g. internal/models/user.go), then commit:

sm modify -a -m "models: add password hash"

Because sm modify always restacks descendants, feat/auth-handlers is automatically rebased onto the new tip of feat/auth-models. No manual git rebase needed.

Push the update:

sm submit --stack

6. Land the bottom

When PR #1 has approvals and a green CI:

sm checkout feat/auth-handlers
sm land

sm land finds the bottom-most PR in your path (feat/auth-models), merges it through gh pr merge (squash by default), and runs sm sync so the merged branch is deleted locally and feat/auth-handlers is re-parented onto trunk.

Your tree now looks like:

stac-man

main
└─ feat/auth-handlers  ← current  #2 open  CI ready

The PR #2 stack table is also refreshed in place — it no longer mentions the merged feat/auth-models row.

What to read next

• Concepts — the mental model behind these verbs.
• Recipes — multi-step workflows like splitting a fat branch or recovering from a bad rebase.
• Command reference — every flag, every command.