Create a pull request from a GitHub card

Starting work on an issue usually means the same few steps on GitHub: make a branch, push something to it, open a pull request, and remember to write "Closes #12" so the two are linked. GitHub cards on GitGumbo can now do that for you.

Point at a card and choose the branch icon, Create pull request. A short confirmation names the branch it will create and the repository's default branch the pull request will merge into. Confirm, and the new pull request opens in a new tab. The card shows it as soon as the board next refreshes, without waiting for a sync.

It creates a draft. A pull request made before any work exists isn't ready for review, so it starts as a draft, and you mark it ready when it is, from the card or on GitHub. On a private repository whose GitHub plan has no draft pull requests, it opens as an ordinary one instead.

It adds one empty commit. GitHub won't open a pull request on a branch with no commits, so the branch gets a single empty placeholder commit. The confirmation says so before you click. That commit is unsigned, so a branch rule that requires signed commits will refuse it.

The pull request's description says "Closes #" and the issue number, so GitHub links the two, and merging it into the default branch closes the issue.

You need permission to push to the repository, and the account behind the board needs write access: a classic token needs the repo scope. If the board's token is read-only, the board says so rather than offering a button that would fail. The button isn't offered on an issue that already has an open pull request.

GitLab cards have had Create merge request since August. GitHub cards now have the same button.