Is it possible to get a list of merges into a branch from the Github website OR API?

Question

In our workflow, no "direct" commits are made into the master branch. The master branch only receives merges from Pull Requests.

We can think of each merge then as a new feature added to the master branch.

So I'd like to get a list of merges into master, as a way to visualize the blocks of features added into the product over time.

Does git or the Github API expose this query, or do I have to parse raw commits?

Answer 1

I use the following script:

git log main --first-parent --merges \
        --pretty=format:"%h %<(10,trunc)%aN %C(white)%<(15)%ar%Creset %C(red bold)%<(15)%D%Creset %s"

Explaining each argument:

• main: the name of your main branch. Can be omitted, in which case the current branch will be used.
• --first-parent: skips commits from merged branches. This removes the entries where someone merged master into their branches.
• --merges: shows only "merge commits" (commits with more than 1 parent). Omit this argument if you want to see direct commits to your main branch.
• --pretty-format: applies the following formatting:
  • %h: the commit short hash;
  • %<(10,trunc)%aN: author name, truncated at 10 chars;
  • %<(15)%ar: the relative commit time, padded to 15 chars;
  • %<(15)%D: the tag names, also padded to 15 chars;
  • %s: first line of the commit message.

The result is pretty satisfying: