# How to Adopt a Branch in CLI

Aviator CLI needs to maintain the metadata for branches so that it can remember the parent-child relationships among them. If you create branches with `av branch`, the metadata is created upon branch creation. You can attach the metadata for branches that are created with `git branch`.

## Create a repository

We will use an example repository from [<mark style="color:blue;">https://github.com/octocat/hello-world</mark>](https://github.com/octocat/hello-world). Clone it and initialize the Aviator CLI.

```
$ git clone https://github.com/octocat/hello-world
Cloning into 'hello-world'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 13, done.
remote: Total 13 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 13
Receiving objects: 100% (13/13), done.
$ cd hello-world
$ av init
Successfully initialized repository for use with av!
```

## Creating a branch outside of av

Let's say instead of using `av branch`, we used a normal Git command to create a branch and a commit.

```
$ git switch --create mytopic
Switched to a new branch 'mytopic'
$ git commit --allow-empty --message="New commit"
[mytopic d384683] New commit
```

Now we can see, the newly created branch `mytopic` is not tracked in `av tree`, but it's shown in `git branch`.

```
$ av tree
$ git branch -vv
  master  7fd1a60 [origin/master] Merge pull request #6 from Spaceghost/patch-1
* mytopic d384683 New commit
```

## Adopting a branch with av adopt

By running `av adopt` specifying the parent branch (in this case `master`) adds metadata for the current branch `mytopic`. Now, if you run `av tree`, you can see that `mytopic` is correctly recognized as a child of `master`.

```
$ av adopt
Choose which branches to adopt (Use space to select / deselect).
  * mytopic (HEAD, chosen for adoption)
  │   New commit
  │
  * master
```

## Adopting an existing PR

If you have also created a PR without using `av`, you can also synchronize your local `av tree` to adopt that PR. To do so, first adopt the branch as described above and then run `av sync` .

```
$ av adopt
Choose which branches to adopt (Use space to select / deselect).
  * mytopic (HEAD, chosen for adoption)
  │   New commit
  │
  * master  
$ av sync
  ✓ GitHub fetch is done
  ✓ Restack is done

    * mytopic-testing 6829015
    │
    * master fbdf1f6

  ✓ Pushed to GitHub

    Following branches are pushed.

      mytopic-testing
        Remote: 6829015 New commit 2025-10-26 11:36:18 -0700 -0700 (2 minutes ago)
               Parent=
        Local:  6829015 New commit 2025-10-26 11:36:18 -0700 -0700 (2 minutes ago)
               Parent=master
        PR:     https://github.com/aviator-co/mergeit/pull/9914

  ✓ No merged branches to delete
```


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.aviator.co/aviator-cli/how-to-guides/adopt-a-branch.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.