GitHub · Pull requests · Git · Checked October 26, 2026

GitHub: a pull request is not checked out locally

After a pull request is opened, GitHub stores all of its changes remotely: its commits are available in the repository even before it is merged, so you can fetch the pull request by its number even when its author has deleted their fork. The branch itself may be gone: in someone else's fork, deleted by hand once the pull request was merged or closed, or deleted automatically after the merge (GitHub's checking out pull requests locally, checked October 26, 2026).

git fetch origin pull/ID/head:BRANCH_NAME
git switch BRANCH_NAME
// refs/pull/ is read-only: ! [remote rejected] HEAD -> refs/pull/1/head (deny updating a hidden ref)

Where the branch went

In a fork: a pull request from a fork has its compare branch in the fork, not in the repository you cloned. If the author is unresponsive or has deleted their fork, the changes can still be merged through a new pull request.
Deleted after the merge: anyone with write access can delete a branch associated with a merged or closed pull request when no other open pull request references it; a branch associated with an open pull request cannot be deleted. A repository can also delete head branches automatically after pull requests are merged (GitHub's deleting and restoring branches in a pull request and managing the automatic deletion of branches).
Forks and automatic deletion: for a pull request opened from a fork, GitHub uses the fork's "Automatically delete head branches" setting, and deletes the branch only when the person merging has write access to the fork (see branch not deleted after merging).

Fetching the pull request instead

By number: fetch the reference to the pull request based on its ID number into a new local branch, git fetch origin pull/ID/head:BRANCH_NAME, then switch to it. You can run tests or merge other branches into it, push it as a new branch, and create a new pull request with it.
With GitHub CLI: gh pr checkout PULL-REQUEST takes the pull request's number, URL or head branch.
Read-only: the remote refs/pull/ namespace is read-only. Pushing commits there fails with deny updating a hidden ref; push a branch of your own instead.
Remotes: removing or renaming a remote does not affect your local refs/pull/origin/ namespace.

What to do

Restore the branch: on a closed pull request, Restore branch near the bottom of the page brings the deleted head branch back.
Committing to a fork's branch: the author of a pull request from a fork in a personal account can select "Allow edits from maintainers", which lets anyone with push access to the upstream repository commit to the compare branch. If the fork contains GitHub Actions workflows the option is "Allow edits and access to secrets by maintainers", and it also lets maintainers edit the fork's workflows (GitHub's allowing changes to a pull request branch created from a fork; see pushing to a pull request branch in a fork).
Otherwise: fetch the pull request by its number, push your own branch, and open a new pull request with the changes.

In IntelliJ IDEA: "Fetch failed", or nothing on screen

How the GitHub support built into IntelliJ IDEA checks out a pull request, in its source (checked October 30, 2026; IntelliJ IDEA: GHPRBranchesViewModel.kt, GitRemoteBranchesUtil.kt, hostedGitRepositoryRemote.kt, GHPRReviewBranchStateSharedViewModel.kt, GHPROnCurrentBranchService.kt):

Checkout Branch ("Fetch and checkout the pull request branch") fetches the head branch by its name from the repository it is in, not pull/ID/head. A branch that was deleted after the merge cannot be fetched that way: the IDE reads "Fetch failed" with Git's reason, and nothing is checked out. Fetch the pull request by its number as above.
From a fork, it fetches from the fork itself: it uses a remote that already points to the fork, or adds one named after the fork's owner (HTTPS when origin uses HTTP or HTTPS, otherwise SSH), and checks the branch out as fork/OWNER/BRANCH, unless a local branch already tracks it. If it can neither find nor add such a remote, it reads "Branch checkout failed" and "Cannot resolve git remote for merge request source repository".
When GitHub returns no head repository for the pull request (the field can be empty in GitHub's GraphQL API), it stops before fetching; the source only writes a warning to the IDE's log, and nothing appears on screen. Fetch the pull request by its number as above.
Once it is checked out, the current branch reads "#ID on BRANCH". When the pull request's last commit is not in your branch's history, as after its author pushed again, it reads "Pull request #ID exists for current branch BRANCH, but local branch is out of sync with remote", and an Update action fetches and checks it out again.

GitHub pull requests in IntelliJ IDEA

Pull Request Inbox for GitHub, a plugin by Lesstep for JetBrains IDEs 2024.1 or later, shows a pull request's reviews, checks and conversations next to the diff, and merges it with the methods the target branch allows. Its Checkout fetches the pull request's branch and checks it out; for a pull request from a fork, or one whose fork was deleted, it fetches refs/pull/NUMBER/head into a local branch named after the pull request, such as pr/42-fix-login, with no upstream, so a push offers a new branch of that name rather than a branch GitHub does not have. It does the same, and says so, when the pull request's branch was deleted on GitHub and there is no local branch of that name either. The review inbox, diffs and conversations are free; approving, commenting, resolving and merging are Pro (US$1.50 a month, with a 30-day trial).

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