$ grebase main

  ✔  fetched origin
  ✔  3 commits ahead, 7 commits behind
  ⚡  conflict in api/auth.js — import order only → auto-resolved
  ⚡  conflict in yarn.lock → regenerating with yarn install
  ?  conflict in src/utils.ts — semantic change detected

  [1] keep yours   [2] take theirs   [3] show diff   [4] open editor
  → 2

  ✔  rebase complete — 7 commits applied cleanly

Why grebase?

Rebasing is painful because of the middle part — editing conflict markers in files, remembering to git add instead of git commit, repeating this for every commit. Most conflicts are actually trivial (import reordering, lockfile churn, whitespace) but git treats them all the same.

grebase handles the boring ones automatically and surfaces only the ones that genuinely need your eyes.

Install

pipx install grebase

Requires Python 3.9+. pipx is recommended so it doesn't pollute your global environment.

For contributors:

git clone https://github.com/your-org/grebase
pip install -e .[dev]

Usage

grebase              # auto-detect target branch and rebase
grebase main         # rebase onto main
grebase origin/main  # rebase onto a specific remote ref

Mid-rebase commands (when a rebase is already in progress):

grebase --continue   # after manually resolving a conflict
grebase --skip       # skip the current commit
grebase --abort      # bail out and restore original state

Common flags:

What it auto-resolves

grebase applies deterministic rules. It never guesses at logic — if a conflict looks semantic, it asks you.

Lockfile regeneration — grebase runs the correct tool automatically:

poetry.lock       → poetry lock
Pipfile.lock      → pipenv lock
package-lock.json → npm ci
yarn.lock         → yarn install
pnpm-lock.yaml    → pnpm install

If the tool isn't installed or fails, grebase falls back to prompting you.

Before it starts

grebase prints a summary of incoming changes before touching anything — so you know what's about to happen:

  main is 7 commits ahead of your branch
  ─────────────────────────────────────────
  a3f1c2e  fix: update token expiry logic
  8bc09d1  feat: add rate limiting middleware
  ...
  → 2 files will likely conflict (api/auth.js, src/config.ts)

Safety

• Never rewrites logic silently. Semantic conflicts always get a prompt.
• Always abortable. Hit Ctrl+C or run grebase --abort to restore your branch exactly as it was.
• Audit trail. --audit logs every decision grebase makes to .git/grebase.log.
• Dry-run first. Not sure? grebase --dry-run shows exactly what would happen.

Troubleshooting

Dirty working tree Commit or stash your changes first, then run grebase.

Rebase already in progress Use grebase --continue, grebase --abort, or grebase --skip.

Lockfile tool missing Install the relevant package manager, or resolve the lockfile manually and run grebase --continue.

Contributing

Contributions are very welcome — this is early-stage and your feedback matters.

• Read docs/contributing.md to get started
• Keep PRs small and focused
• Add tests for any new behavior
• New conflict resolution rules go in grebase/resolvers/ — each rule is one file

# run tests
pytest

# run against a local repo
grebase --dry-run --verbose