When the working tree contains hunks that logically belong to several different downstack branches, gt absorb figures out which branch each hunk should amend into and applies them. User input: $ARGUMENTS.

When to prefer absorb over modify

• The diff fixes things touched by multiple ancestors (e.g. typo in branch A and unrelated bug in branch B).
• You want to land review feedback that spans multiple PRs at once.
• For changes that all belong on the current branch, use /graphite:modify instead — it's simpler.

Steps

1. Run git status --short so the user sees the working-tree state.
2. Run gt ls to show which branches are candidates downstack.
3. Run a dry run first: gt absorb -a -d (or gt absorb -p -d for hunk selection). Show the user the proposed branch-per-hunk assignment.
4. If the user approves, run without -d to apply. Each affected branch is amended, then everything upstack is auto-restacked.
5. Resolve any restack conflicts the usual way: gt add . → gt continue -a, or gt abort.
6. Run gt ls and consider gt submit --stack -u to update PRs.

Key flags

• -a, --all — consider all modified files (default is staged only)
• -p, --patch — interactive hunk selection
• -d, --dry-run — show the plan without amending