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branch rebase

Rebase local feature branches onto the configured base branch.

This is a convenience command for keeping many feature branches up to date when the base
branch moves forward frequently. It iterates over every local branch that is not itself a
base branch and runs git rebase <base> for each one.

Usage

git-wrench branch rebase [--path <dir>] [--workspace] [--branch <b>] [--dry-run]
Option Description
--path <dir> Act on a specific directory (scanned up to sync.recurse_depth)
--workspace Act on all configured workspaces instead of the current repo
--branch <b> Rebase only this specific local branch (default: all non-base branches)
--dry-run Show what would be rebased without making any changes

What it does

  1. Determines the base branch for the repo — the first branch from
    rebase.branches_order (develop, main, master by default) that exists locally.
  2. Collects all local branches that are not in branches_order (or just the one given
    with --branch).
  3. For each candidate branch, runs git rebase <base>.
    - Already-up-to-date branches are noted and counted as successes.
    - On conflict the rebase is automatically aborted (git rebase --abort) and the branch
    is left unchanged; the error is reported without stopping the remaining branches.

Examples

# Rebase every feature branch in the current repo
git-wrench branch rebase

# Preview what would happen without making changes
git-wrench branch rebase --dry-run

# Rebase only one branch across all workspaces
git-wrench branch rebase --workspace --branch feature/my-ticket

# Rebase all branches in a specific workspace directory
git-wrench branch rebase --path ~/work/acme

Configuration

[rebase]
branches_order = ["develop", "main", "master"]

The list is searched left-to-right; the first branch found locally in a repository is
used as the rebase target. Branches whose names appear in branches_order are never
rebased themselves.

Notes

  • The command does not check out the branch being rebased. It uses
    git rebase <base> <branch> with a detached approach, leaving your current checkout
    untouched.
  • If a rebase fails (conflict), git rebase --abort is run automatically so the
    repository is always left in a clean state.
  • Repos with no recognisable base branch (none of branches_order exists) are skipped
    with a notice.

See also