Allow selecting multiple commits to merge during PR creation (commit picker option in exciting UI)

[harshith53]

Allow selecting multiple commits to merge during PR creation (commit picker option in exiting UI)

Currently, GitHub automatically includes all commits that differ between branches when creating a pull request. This is inconvenient when teams maintain long-running branches (e.g., uat, release, develop) and want to merge only specific commits.

Proposed solution:
Provide a commit selection UI during PR creation, allowing users to pick which commits should be included.

Why it’s useful:
• Avoid noise in release branches
• Easier hotfix workflows
• Prevent accidental merging of incomplete features
• Faster cherry-pick workflows without CLI
• More control for CI/CD environments

Alternatives:
• Manual cherry-picking (slow)
• Creating temporary branches

Impact:
Large teams working with multiple environments (dev/uat/prod) will save time and reduce merge risk.

[AlexLamper]

Allowing selective commits in a PR could easily break the branch if a commit depends on earlier changes that aren’t included. This could lead to subtle bugs or CI/CD failures, making the workflow riskier than just merging the full branch.

[harshith53]

Thanks for the input! You’re right that selectively merging commits can introduce dependency issues — but that risk already exists today with cherry-picks, which GitHub fully supports both via CLI and the UI. To reduce the risk, the feature could also include safety checks, like warning users when chosen commits depend on earlier ones that aren’t included.

[Guten-Morgen1302]

Thanks for the suggestion! Selectively choosing commits during PR creation isn’t supported in GitHub’s UI today PRs always represent the full diff between the source and target branches.

For now, the recommended workflow is to create a temporary branch and cherry-pick only the commits you want included, then open the PR from that branch.

Your feature request makes sense for teams working with long-running branches, and I’ve passed this feedback along to the team. While we can’t promise timelines, we’re always evaluating improvements to PR workflows, and this use case is helpful.

Thanks for taking the time to share it!

[harshith53]

Thanks for the clarification! I understand that GitHub PRs currently reflect the full diff between branches, and I’m already using the cherry-pick → temporary branch workflow. It works, but it becomes time-consuming and error-prone when there are many commits to include or exclude.

That’s why a built-in commit-selection UI during PR creation would really help teams that manage long-running branches like dev, uat, and prod. It would provide the same functionality as cherry-picking, but in a more transparent and safer way — especially when multiple commits need to be included at once.

I appreciate you sharing the feedback with the team. Even if there’s no timeline, it’s great to know the use case is being considered. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

[github-actions[bot]]

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[harshith53]

Thanks for the update! Appreciate the transparency around the feedback process.
I’m glad to know the feature request is now in the hands of the product team. I’ll keep an eye on the Changelog and Roadmap for any related updates.

I’ll also continue engaging in other Discussions and share more details if needed — this workflow is important for teams managing multi-stage environments, so happy to provide more context anytime.

[Hadi-rajput]

Currently, GitHub includes all commits that differ between branches when creating a pull request. This can be inconvenient for teams working with long-running branches (e.g., uat, release, develop) who only want to merge specific commits.
Proposed solution:
Add a commit picker UI during PR creation so users can select exactly which commits to include.
Why it’s useful:
Reduces noise in release branches
Simplifies hotfix workflows
Prevents accidental merging of incomplete features
Enables faster cherry-pick workflows without using CLI
Gives more control in CI/CD pipelines
Alternatives today:
Manual cherry-picking (slow)
Creating temporary branches
Impact:
Teams working across multiple environments (dev/uat/prod) will save time and reduce merge risk, improving workflow efficiency.