Merge a branch

A merge is the moment changes enter the shared line, so it doubles as a review gate. Judge the incoming changes against the project's stated principles (a PRINCIPLES.md, AGENTS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md or similar), if it has them, before they land.

Never assume or take a product decision. Resolving a conflict or reviewing a change can quietly decide what the customer sees or how the product behaves — which behaviour wins, which flow survives. When it does, stop and ask the user what the final customer experience should be. Recommend a resolution with your reasoning — the user decides.

The same goes for anything with a large blast radius. A conflict resolved by reshaping the architecture, the data or domain model, or a dependency — anything expensive to reverse once it is on the shared line — is not yours to settle inside a merge. Ask first.