How do i protect my main branch from direct pushes?

[auth23noreply-ship-it]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

ARC (Actions Runner Controller)

Discussion Details

i keep accidentally pushing directly to main, how do i set it up so that it requires a pull request before merging?

[onurdilmen]

Two ways to do this — the classic branch protection rule or the newer rulesets. Both work, rulesets are now the recommended path.

Option 1 — Rulesets (recommended)

1. Repo → Settings → Rules → Rulesets → New ruleset → New branch ruleset
2. Enforcement status: Active
3. Target branches: Include default branch (or add main by name)
4. Under Rules, enable:
   • Restrict deletions
   • Require a pull request before merging (set required approvals to whatever you want, 0 is fine if you're solo)
   • Block force pushes

Save. Direct pushes to main will now be rejected by the server.

Option 2 — Branch protection (classic)

Repo → Settings → Branches → Add branch protection rule → branch name pattern main → check Require a pull request before merging → Save.

Heads-up if you're the repo owner / admin

By default, admins can still bypass these rules. In rulesets there's a Bypass list — leave it empty if you really want to lock yourself out of direct pushes. In classic protection, tick Do not allow bypassing the above settings.

If you're on a free plan with a private repo, branch protection used to be Pro-only but it's been free for everyone for a while now, so this should work on any repo.

[aasimansari1]

You can protect your main branch through Branch Protection Rules in your repository settings. Here's how:

Steps:

1. Go to your repository on GitHub
2. Click Settings → Branches (left sidebar)
3. Click Add branch ruleset (or Add rule on older UI)
4. Set the branch name pattern to main
5. Enable Require a pull request before merging
6. Optionally enable Require approvals (set minimum reviewers to 1+)
7. Click Create (or Save changes)

Once this is set, GitHub will block any direct push to main — even from you as the repo owner — and require changes to go through a pull request.

Optional extras worth enabling:

• ✅ Require status checks to pass – blocks merging if CI fails
• ✅ Require branches to be up to date – prevents merging stale PRs
• ✅ Do not allow bypassing the above settings – prevents admins from pushing directly too

If you use the CLI, you can also set this with:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/main/protection \
  --method PUT \
  --field required_pull_request_reviews[required_approving_review_count]=1 \
  --field enforce_admins=true

After this, you'll need to work in feature branches and merge via PR — a great habit that also protects your commit history!