adopt

v0.6.0+

Adopt an existing Git branch into the rung stack by establishing its parent relationship. Use this when you have branches created outside of rung that you want to manage as part of your stack.

Usage

rung adopt [branch]
rung adopt [branch] --parent <parent>
rung adopt --parent <parent>
rung adopt --dry-run

Aliases

rung ad — shorthand for rung adopt

Options

Option	Description
`[branch]`	Branch to adopt. Defaults to the current branch.
`-p, --parent`	Parent branch for the adopted branch. Shows interactive picker if omitted.
`--dry-run`	Preview what would happen without making changes.

Examples

Adopt Current Branch

git checkout my-feature
rung adopt --parent main

Adopts the current branch (my-feature) with main as its parent.

Adopt Specific Branch

rung adopt feature/api --parent main

Adopts feature/api into the stack with main as its parent.

Interactive Parent Selection

rung adopt

When no --parent is specified, rung shows an interactive picker with available parents (base branch and any branches already in the stack).

Preview with Dry Run

rung adopt feature/api --parent main --dry-run

Shows what would happen without modifying the stack.

Workflow

Bringing Legacy Branches into the Stack

# You have existing branches created with plain git
git branch
# * main
#   feature/api

# Adopt them into the stack in order
git checkout feature/auth
rung adopt --parent main

git checkout feature/api
rung adopt --parent feature/auth

# Check the stack
rung status

  Stack
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  ●   feature/auth ← main
  ● ▶ feature/api ← feature/auth
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

  ● synced  ● needs sync  ● conflict

Adopting a Branch Chain

When adopting multiple related branches, adopt them bottom-up (closest to main first):

# Wrong order - will fail
rung adopt feature/child --parent feature/parent
# Error: Parent 'feature/parent' is not in the stack

# Correct order
rung adopt feature/parent --parent main
rung adopt feature/child --parent feature/parent

Validation

Rung validates that:

Branch exists — The branch must exist in Git
Not already in stack — Can’t adopt a branch that’s already managed
Valid parent — Parent must be either the base branch or already in the stack

Notes

The branch must already exist in Git (use rung create for new branches)
Adopting doesn’t modify the branch’s commits or history
After adopting, use rung sync to rebase if the parent has moved
The base branch (usually main) is always a valid parent option

create — Create a new branch in the stack
status — View the stack tree
sync — Sync branches after adoption