fix: fall back to direct merge when branch protection has no required checks

Author: BenjaminMichaelis

.github/workflows/dependabot-major-merge.yml

@@ -106,8 +106,18 @@ jobs:
             fi
 
             echo "✅ CI passed for PR #$PR_NUMBER — enabling auto-merge..."
-            gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL"
-            echo "✅ Auto-merge enabled for PR #$PR_NUMBER."
+            MERGE_OUTPUT=$(gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL" 2>&1) && \
+              echo "✅ Auto-merge enabled for PR #$PR_NUMBER." || \
+            {
+              if echo "$MERGE_OUTPUT" | grep -q "clean status"; then
+                echo "Branch protection has no required checks — merging directly..."
+                gh pr merge --squash --delete-branch "$PR_URL"
+                echo "✅ PR #$PR_NUMBER merged directly."
+              else
+                echo "::error::Failed to merge PR #$PR_NUMBER: $MERGE_OUTPUT"
+                exit 1
+              fi
+            }
           done
 
       # ── pull_request / workflow_dispatch: single PR ─────────────────
@@ -193,7 +203,19 @@ jobs:
       # ── 4. Enable auto-merge ───────────────────────────────────────
       - name: Enable auto-merge
         if: github.event_name != 'workflow_run'
-        run: gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL"
         env:
           PR_URL: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.pr_url }}
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GH_PAT_WORKFLOW }}
+        run: |
+          MERGE_OUTPUT=$(gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL" 2>&1) && \
+            echo "✅ Auto-merge enabled." || \
+          {
+            if echo "$MERGE_OUTPUT" | grep -q "clean status"; then
+              echo "Branch protection has no required checks — merging directly..."
+              gh pr merge --squash --delete-branch "$PR_URL"
+              echo "✅ PR merged directly."
+            else
+              echo "::error::Failed to merge PR: $MERGE_OUTPUT"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+          }