Finish a thread with a pull request and auto-merge

You end with a thread whose pull request merged automatically once its conflict was resolved and the required test check passed.

SpecWithCode
1:19
Codex
Narrated, with captions

Recorded on SpecWithCode 1.0.48 with SpecWeave 3.1.1, 18 October 2026, added 18 October 2026. The current release is SpecWithCode 1.0.44.

Before you start: SpecWithCode for Mac; a signed-in coding agent (Codex in this video); a GitHub repository with Git and GitHub sign-in on the machine that runs the thread; a SpecWeave increment planned (optional).

Length 1:19Captions

Steps

Start a worker thread from the project coordinator, for example: Start a thread titled "Greet a team" in a new worktree from main. The thread gets its own worktree and branch (here greet/greet-a-team, from the branch prefix greet/).
Let the thread finish its work with a clean worktree and nothing queued. With the project's rule set to Open PR and auto-merge, SpecWithCode pushes the branch, opens a pull request into the default branch and turns on the host's auto-merge. The thread shows each step as a notice: Opened #2 into main, then Auto-merge on for #2; it merges into main when checks pass.
If the base branch changed the same lines, the thread shows #2 conflicts with main; not merging. Nothing is merged or force-pushed.
Set the rule per project: open the project's settings (Applying settings for greet-app) and, under Repositories, choose When a thread finishes: Leave branch, Open PR or Open PR and auto-merge. The same card sets Default merge method (Squash and merge here) and Remove agent credits when merging.
Open Code Review to see the pull request. Its summary shows Blocked, Conflicts with the base, and the armed Auto-merge (squash and merge); the Code tab shows the changed files.
Send the conflict back to the thread that wrote the code, for example: main changed under this pull request. Merge main in, resolve the conflicts, run npm test, then commit and push.
Auto-merge stays on. When the required checks pass, GitHub merges the pull request and the thread shows Merged #2 into main.

Recorded headlessly on a private SpecWithCode 1.0.48 server with a disposable home, 18 October 2026, against the public demo repository anton-abyzov/greet-app-demo. main there is protected by one required status check, test (GitHub Actions running npm test), with admins included and no required reviews; auto-merge and delete-branch-on-merge are on. No review gated this merge: the pull request merged when the conflict was resolved and the test check passed. The thread's T-01 turn and its conflict-resolution turn are real Codex turns, signed in with the author's account through a short-lived token copied into that home; the GitHub sign-in was the author's own, held in memory only. Full access was chosen for the demo only. The conflicting commit on main, "Say Hi in every greeting", was pushed off camera right after the thread started. The take was recorded in two parts on the same server minutes apart (the recorder stopped once on the Code tab and was restarted from Code Review); nothing between the parts changed the pull request. Waits are sped up and marked on screen: the agent turns (1.5× to 4×), the wait for the conflict notice (8×) and the wait for the app's next pull-request sync after GitHub merged (15×). The Code Review list blurs the account owner's display name. Before the first pull request the project's merge method was set to Squash and merge and Remove agent credits when merging was turned on; the branch prefix greet/ was set on the Source Control page, the only place 1.0.48 offers it. Narration is an AI voice (ElevenLabs, the author's cloned voice); captions are timed from the voice service's character timestamps.

Transcript

Built from the caption file of the narration.

0:00 What you will see

Finish a thread with a pull request and auto-merge.

0:04 The thread finishes and opens a PR

In greet-app, the coordinator started a thread, Greet a team, in its own worktree. Codex does T-01 of increment 0002, commits, and stops with a clean tree. Then the project's finish rule runs: SpecWithCode opens pull request #2 into main, and turns on auto-merge. But main changed the same lines, so the thread reports a conflict and does not merge.

0:31 Open PR and auto-merge, per project

The rule is a project setting: When a thread finishes, Open PR and auto-merge. This project squashes on merge and removes agent credit lines.

0:42 Code Review

Code Review shows the pull request blocked by the conflict, with auto-merge armed. No review is required in this repo. The Code tab shows the thread's change.

0:52 Resolve the conflict in its thread

Send the conflict back to the thread that wrote the code. Codex merges main, keeps the new Hi wording for teams, runs npm test, and pushes.

1:03 Merged

Auto-merge is still on. The required test check passes, and GitHub merges it. The thread shows Merged #2 into main.

1:13 Next: sw-done

Next, sw-done verifies and closes the increment.

Download SpecWithCode for Mac Read the reference

Learning path

Run SpecWithCode

Understand the setup, run a project through its coordinator, then add plans, memory and a second provider.

See how SpecWithCode runs your agents
2:54, SpecWithCode
Start SpecWithCode with a coordinator and two workers
1:48, SpecWithCode
Run a project with a coordinator and workers
1:29, SpecWithCode
Plan, verify and schedule project work
1:35, SpecWithCode
Keep project memory and read honest usage
1:06, SpecWithCode
Continue a thread on Codex at a usage limit
1:01, SpecWithCode
Keep working when a provider runs out
1:39, SpecWithCode
Add a second machine
1:13, SpecWithCode
Finish a thread with a pull request and auto-merge (this guide)
1:19, SpecWithCode
Let agents use a browser
1:10, SpecWithCode

One more guide is planned for this path.

Keep working when a provider runs out1:39, SpecWithCode
Review with the other model before you ship1:33, SpecWeave CLI

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