From 2cf7d1a2feb923e2d25d129b1b4c47139ca39f4f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: sidreyas <sudharsan2594git1@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 2026 04:10:07 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix(github): explain rejected pull request base branches

---
 .../GitHubSourceControlProvider.test.ts       | 48 ++++++++++++++++++
 .../src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.ts | 49 +++++++++++++------
 2 files changed, 82 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.test.ts b/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.test.ts
index a5a08fcfc2cc4..82853504c5a2f 100644
--- a/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.test.ts
+++ b/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.test.ts
@@ -552,6 +552,54 @@ describe("GitHubSourceControlProvider writes", () => {
     }).pipe(Effect.provide(Layer.merge(layer, NodeServices.layer)), Effect.scoped);
   });
 
+  it.effect.each([
+    { host: "github.com", status: 422, field: "base", rejectedBase: true },
+    { host: "code.example.test", status: 422, field: "base", rejectedBase: true },
+    { host: "github.com", status: 422, field: "head", rejectedBase: false },
+    { host: "github.com", status: 500, field: "base", rejectedBase: false },
+  ])(
+    "explains a rejected PR base without replacing other API failures: $host $status $field",
+    ({ host, status, field, rejectedBase }) => {
+      const cause = new GitHubRequestPolicy.GitHubApiResponseError({
+        host,
+        operation: "createPullRequest",
+        status,
+        githubErrors: ["Validation Failed", `${field} invalid`],
+      });
+      const { layer } = harness({
+        remotes: remotesOutput(
+          ["origin", `git@${host}:me/web.git`],
+          ["upstream", `git@${host}:acme/web.git`],
+        ),
+        api: { rest: () => Effect.fail(cause) },
+      });
+      return Effect.gen(function* () {
+        const fs = yield* FileSystem.FileSystem;
+        const bodyFile = yield* fs.makeTempFileScoped({ suffix: ".md" });
+        yield* fs.writeFileString(bodyFile, "Body");
+        const gh = yield* GitHubSourceControlProvider.make;
+        const error = yield* gh
+          .createChangeRequest({
+            cwd: "/repo",
+            context: githubContext(host),
+            baseRefName: "stack/parent",
+            headSelector: "me:child",
+            title: "Title",
+            bodyFile,
+          })
+          .pipe(Effect.flip);
+        assert.strictEqual(error.operation, "createChangeRequest");
+        assert.strictEqual(error.cause, cause);
+        assert.strictEqual(
+          error.detail,
+          rejectedBase
+            ? `GitHub rejected base branch "stack/parent" for ${host}/acme/web. Push the intended base branch to that repository, or choose an existing base branch and retry.`
+            : cause.message,
+        );
+      }).pipe(Effect.provide(layer), Effect.scoped);
+    },
+  );
+
   it.effect("creates a repository under an organization the viewer is not", () => {
     const requests: Array<string> = [];
     const { layer } = harness({
diff --git a/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.ts b/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.ts
index 4abb3d8d6669f..a67854c254c03 100644
--- a/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.ts
+++ b/packages/source-control-github/src/server/GitHubSourceControlProvider.ts
@@ -985,21 +985,40 @@ export const make = Effect.gen(function* () {
               failure("The pull request description could not be read.", cause),
             ),
           );
-        yield* rest({
-          host: locator.host,
-          operation: "createPullRequest",
-          method: "POST",
-          allowReserve: true,
-          path: `repos/${encodeURIComponent(locator.owner)}/${encodeURIComponent(locator.name)}/pulls`,
-          // Explicitly allow maintainer edits to match gh; the API default is undocumented.
-          body: {
-            base: input.baseRefName,
-            head: input.headSelector,
-            title: input.title,
-            body,
-            maintainer_can_modify: true,
-          },
-        });
+        yield* api
+          .rest({
+            host: locator.host,
+            operation: "createPullRequest",
+            method: "POST",
+            allowReserve: true,
+            path: `repos/${encodeURIComponent(locator.owner)}/${encodeURIComponent(locator.name)}/pulls`,
+            // Explicitly allow maintainer edits to match gh; the API default is undocumented.
+            body: {
+              base: input.baseRefName,
+              head: input.headSelector,
+              title: input.title,
+              body,
+              maintainer_can_modify: true,
+            },
+          })
+          .pipe(
+            Effect.mapError((error) => {
+              if (
+                error._tag === "GitHubApiResponseError" &&
+                error.status === 422 &&
+                error.githubErrors?.includes("base invalid")
+              ) {
+                const base = SourceControlProvider.transportSafeSourceControlErrorValue(
+                  input.baseRefName,
+                );
+                return failure(
+                  `GitHub rejected base branch ${JSON.stringify(base)} for ${locator.host}/${locator.owner}/${locator.name}. Push the intended base branch to that repository, or choose an existing base branch and retry.`,
+                  error,
+                );
+              }
+              return fromGitHubApiError(error);
+            }),
+          );
       },
       (effect, input) =>
         effect.pipe(