Review Stashes

When you post a review from ghqc, you are often reviewing by making temporary local edits to the file itself. Those edits might be inline comments, notes, or small markup changes that help explain your feedback.

A review stash is how ghqc can preserve those local review edits while still returning the file in your working tree to a clean state.

1. What a Review Stash Is

A review stash is a normal Git stash entry created by ghqc after a successful review post when auto-stash is enabled.

ghqc creates it with a message containing:

• the QC issue number
• the reviewed file path

In practice, the stash message includes text like:

ghqc review #12 path/to/file.R

2. What It Does

When the stash is created successfully:

• your review comment is posted to GitHub
• the local edits for that reviewed file are removed from the working copy
• the edits are still saved inside Git’s stash list

This is useful because it lets the QC issue move forward without leaving the reviewed file dirty in your local repository.

3. When It Happens

In the UI Review tab, the checkbox is labeled Stash file changes from review.

In the CLI review flow, the stash prompt defaults to Yes, and non-interactive review also stashes by default unless you use --no-stash-after-review.

A review stash is only relevant when the reviewed file actually has local changes.

That means:

• if there are no local changes, there is nothing to stash
• if you disable auto-stash, no review stash is created
• if stashing fails, the review post can still succeed, but ghqc reports the stash failure

4. Why This Helps

For many reviewers, local review edits are temporary working notes rather than changes that belong in the repository.

The review stash gives you both of these benefits at once:

• the repository returns to a cleaner local state
• the review edits are still recoverable later if you need them

5. How To Get the Review Back

If you want to restore the stashed review edits later, use normal Git stash commands.

5.1. List Your Stashes

git stash list

Look for the entry whose message includes ghqc review #... and the reviewed file path.

5.2. Preview the Stash

git stash show -p stash@{0}

Replace stash@{0} with the correct stash reference from your own stash list.

This lets you confirm that you found the right review stash before restoring it.

5.3. Restore the Review Edits

To restore the edits and keep the stash entry:

git stash apply stash@{0}

To restore the edits and remove the stash entry afterward:

git stash pop stash@{0}

Use apply when you want to be more cautious. Use pop when you are done with the stash and want Git to remove it automatically after applying.

6. Practical Guidance

If you are not comfortable with Git, the safest recovery flow is:

1. run git stash list
2. identify the ghqc review #... entry you want
3. run git stash show -p stash@{N} to inspect it
4. run git stash apply stash@{N}

That sequence restores the review without deleting the stash entry first.

7. What This Does Not Mean

A review stash is not:

• a Git commit
• a GitHub comment draft
• a permanent archive of the review

It is just a local Git stash entry on your machine.

8. If You Prefer Not To Use It

You can disable review stashing:

• in the UI, by clearing Stash file changes from review
• in the CLI, by answering No to the stash prompt or using --no-stash-after-review

When you do that, the review edits stay in your working copy after posting the review.

Comments Feature See how review posting works in the issue detail panel