If you're working on a protected branch, you won't be able to make irrevocable changes to the branch. Repository administrators may also enable required status checks or required pull request reviews on the protected branch, which will add additional requirements to the mergeability of your work on the protected branch.

You can see if your pull request can be merged at the bottom of the pull request's Conversation tab.

Note: If you're a repository administrator, you can merge pull requests on branches with branch protections enabled even if the pull request does not meet the requirements, unless branch protections have been set to "Include administrators."

  • If you're working on a branch with protections enabled, you won't be able to delete or force push to the branch.
  • If the protected branch has required status checks enabled, you won't be able to merge changes into the branch until all of the required CI tests pass. For more information, see "About statuses."
  • If the protected branch has required pull request reviews enabled, you won't be able to merge changes into the branch until all requirements in the pull request review policy have been met. For more information, see "Merging a pull request."

Further reading