Initialize gs

In any git repository, run:

gs init

This sets up gs configuration and identifies your trunk branch (usually main or master).

Create your first stack

# Create a new stacked branch off trunk
gs create feat-auth
 
# Make changes and commit
git add . && git commit -m "Add authentication"
 
# Create another branch on top
gs create feat-auth-ui
 
# Make changes and commit
git add . && git commit -m "Add auth UI components"

Visualize the stack

gs log

Output looks like:

● *main (trunk) [fe9d15f]
├── feat-auth [a1cb412]
│   └── feat-auth-ui [b2de523]

Navigate the stack

gs up          # Move to child branch
gs down        # Move to parent branch
gs top         # Jump to top of stack
gs bottom      # Jump to trunk

Restack after parent changes

If you modify a parent branch, restack to keep children in sync:

gs stack restack

What just happened?

You created a stack of two branches where feat-auth-ui depends on feat-auth, which depends on main. gs tracks these parent-child relationships so you can navigate by structure instead of remembering branch names. When a parent branch changes, gs stack restack rebases all children automatically, keeping the entire stack up to date.