cli/cli · error

no commit found on the pull request

Error message

no commit found on the pull request

What it means

Thrown by the checks-rolling query in gh pr checks when the PR's StatusCheckRollup node list is empty - meaning the head commit has no check contexts to report. Most commonly this happens for PRs whose head commit has not been pushed or has no CI configured, or empty PRs.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cmd/pr/checks/checks.go:287

			}
		}
	}`, api.RequiredStatusCheckRollupGraphQL("$id", "$endCursor", includeEvent))

	variables := map[string]interface{}{
		"id": pr.ID,
	}

	statusCheckRollup := api.CheckContexts{}

	for {
		var resp response
		err := apiClient.GraphQL(repo.RepoHost(), query, variables, &resp)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, checkCounts{}, err
		}

		if len(resp.Node.StatusCheckRollup.Nodes) == 0 {
			return nil, checkCounts{}, errors.New("no commit found on the pull request")
		}

		result := resp.Node.StatusCheckRollup.Nodes[0].Commit.StatusCheckRollup.Contexts
		statusCheckRollup.Nodes = append(
			statusCheckRollup.Nodes,
			result.Nodes...,
		)

		if !result.PageInfo.HasNextPage {
			break
		}
		variables["endCursor"] = result.PageInfo.EndCursor
	}

	if len(statusCheckRollup.Nodes) == 0 {
		return nil, checkCounts{}, fmt.Errorf("no checks reported on the '%s' branch", pr.HeadRefName)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 0eeec0b92e)

Solutions

1. Confirm the PR has a head commit and diff: `gh pr view <n> --json commits,state`
2. If the repo has no checks configured, skip polling; gate on workflow existence (`gh workflow list`)
3. Wait for CI to start before polling, or use `gh pr checks <n> --watch` which tolerates the startup window once contexts exist

Example fix

# before
gh pr checks 7   # PR just opened, CI not started, no checks ever configured
# after
gh pr checks 7 --json 2>/dev/null || echo "no checks; repo has no CI configured"

commits=$(gh pr view $N --json commits --jq 'length')
[ "$commits" -gt 0 ] || { echo "PR has no commits; nothing to check" >&2; exit 0; }
gh pr checks $N

Treat 'no commit found on the pull request' as a soft-empty in scripts: if grep -q matches, exit 0 (no CI) rather than failing the pipeline.

When it happens

Trigger: `gh pr checks <n>` where the pull request has zero commits (opened from a branch with no diff/no pushed head), or where the rollup query returns an empty node list for the head SHA; commonly right after opening a PR before CI triggers with no required checks configured.

Common situations: Polling `gh pr checks --watch` in CI immediately after PR creation; repos with no workflows/checks at all; PRs from deleted head branches.

Related errors

• pull request title must not be blank
• this type of review cannot be blank
• no comments found for current user
• empty reference
• --editor or enabled prefer_editor_prompt configuration are n

AI-assisted analysis of cli/cli@0eeec0b92e (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f3ac035d5cd0b070. Report an issue: GitHub.