Queued commit {} is not at HEAD (current HEAD is {}). Checko

Error message

Queued commit {} is not at HEAD (current HEAD is {}). Checkout the commit or re-run with --force.

What it means

This error is thrown by the commit-approval flow when a commit previously queued (e.g. via `f commit --queue`) is no longer the HEAD of the repository at approval time. The library re-reads HEAD with `git rev-parse HEAD` and refuses to act on the queued commit unless `--force` is passed, because pushing/approving a non-HEAD commit would act on top of unrelated work. It protects against operating on a stale queue entry after the user has made newer commits.

Source

Thrown at src/commit.rs:9298

            }
            if unreviewed && !effective_allow_unreviewed && !force {
                bail!(
                    "Queued commit {} does not have a clean review (missing). Re-run review, or re-run with --allow-unreviewed.",
                    short_sha(&entry.commit_sha)
                );
            }
            if entry.review_timed_out && !force {
                eprintln!(
                    "note: review timed out for {}; approving anyway (re-run `f commit-queue review {}` if you want a full review)",
                    short_sha(&entry.commit_sha),
                    short_sha(&entry.commit_sha)
                );
            }

            let head_sha = git_capture_in(&repo_root, &["rev-parse", "HEAD"])?;
            let head_sha = head_sha.trim();
            if head_sha != entry.commit_sha && !force {
                bail!(
                    "Queued commit {} is not at HEAD (current HEAD is {}). Checkout the commit or re-run with --force.",
                    short_sha(&entry.commit_sha),
                    short_sha(head_sha)
                );
            }

            let current_branch = git_capture_in(&repo_root, &["rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"])
                .unwrap_or_else(|_| "unknown".to_string());
            if current_branch.trim() != entry.branch && !force {
                bail!(
                    "Queued commit was created on branch {} but current branch is {}. Checkout the branch or re-run with --force.",
                    entry.branch,
                    current_branch.trim()
                );
            }

            ensure_safe_upstream_for_commit_queue_push(&repo_root, head_sha, force)?;

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

Run `git rev-parse HEAD` and compare with the queued commit SHA to confirm the drift.
Checkout the queued commit: `git checkout <sha>` (or the branch tip containing it), then re-run the command.
If operating on a non-HEAD queued commit is intentional, re-run with `--force`.
Re-queue the commit if the old SHA no longer exists (e.g. after an interactive rebase).

Example fix

// before
f pr approve   # fails: queued sha != HEAD
// after
git checkout <queued-sha>
f pr approve   # or: f pr approve --force

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

let head = String::from_utf8(Command::new("git").args(["rev-parse","HEAD"]).output().unwrap().stdout).unwrap();
if head.trim() != queued_sha { eprintln!("HEAD moved; checkout {} or use --force", &queued_sha[..7]); }

Try / catch

match result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("not at HEAD") => eprintln!("Checkout the queued commit or re-run with --force"),
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
    Ok(v) => v,
}

Prevention

Approve queued commits immediately after queueing them.
Avoid rebasing/amending after queueing; re-queue if you must.
Check `git rev-parse HEAD` against the queue before approving.
Keep `--force` for intentional non-HEAD approvals only.

When it happens

Trigger: Running the approve/push command for a queued commit after additional commits have been made on the branch, after a rebase rewrote the queued commit's SHA, or after checking out a different commit, so `git rev-parse HEAD` no longer equals `entry.commit_sha` and `--force` was not supplied.

Common situations: Developer queues a commit, then keeps working and makes more commits before approving; a pull/rebase changed SHAs; another tool or teammate amended HEAD; the repo was switched to an older commit for debugging.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/caee9ae2485abc21. Report an issue: GitHub.