Creating Stacked Branches

Stacked branches are at the core of the Graphite workflow. They allow you to organize your work into a logical sequence of changes, where each branch builds upon the previous one. Tower provides several convenient ways to create stacked branches with Graphite.

Branch Naming Best Practices
When naming your stacked branches, use descriptive names that clearly indicate the purpose of each branch. This makes it easier for you and your team to understand the purpose of each branch in the stack.

Creating a Stacked Branch from the Workflow Toolbar

The workflow toolbar provides quick access to Graphite actions:

1. Click the Workflow toolbar button in the top toolbar
2. Select Create New Stacked Branch… from the dropdown menu
3. Enter a name for your new branch
4. Tower will create a new branch stacked on top of your current branch

You can also access this same functionality from the main menu by selecting Workflow > Graphite: Create New Stacked Branch….

Creating a Stacked Branch from the Commit View

One of the most common ways to create a stacked branch is directly from the commit view:

1. Make your changes to files in your working copy
2. Stage the changes you want to include in your commit
3. In the commit view, click the Create button instead of the regular Commit button

Tower will:

• Create a new stacked branch based on the current branch
• Commit all staged changes to this new branch
• Automatically set up the proper parent-child relationship in the stack

This method is particularly useful when you're working on a feature and realize that a specific set of changes should be in its own branch.

Creating a Stacked Branch from a Branch's Context Menu

You can also create a stacked branch from an existing branch:

1. Right-click on a branch in the sidebar
2. Select Graphite: Create New Stacked Branch… from the context menu
3. Enter a name for your new branch
4. Tower will create a new branch stacked on top of the selected branch

This method is useful when you want to create a new branch before making any changes.

Viewing Stacked Branches in Tower

After creating stacked branches, Tower will display them in hierarchical order in the sidebar:

• Parent branches appear above their child branches
• Child branches are indented under their parent branches

This visual representation makes it easy to understand the relationships between branches in your stack.