---
title: Built‑in Merge Protections
description: "Protections available out of the box: Depends-On, Merge-After, Configuration Changed."
---

import { Image } from "astro:assets"
import dependsOnBody from "../../images/merge-protections/depends-on.png"
import mergeAfterBody from "../../images/merge-protections/merge-after.png"

These protections are automatically interpreted — no configuration required.

## Depends-On

Block merging until specified pull requests are merged.

Declare dependencies in the PR body:

```yaml
Depends-On: #123
Depends-On: https://github.com/org/repo/pull/123
Depends-On: org/repo#123
```

<Image src={dependsOnBody} alt="Using Depends-On in the pull request body on GitHub" />

Rules:
- All referenced PRs must be in repositories with Mergify enabled
- They must belong to the same organization
- Cycles are ignored (a PR depending on itself or circular chains)

Use cases:
- Feature split across multiple repos
- Schema then implementation
- Chained refactors

## Merge-After

Delay merging until a future time using a header in the PR description:

```yaml
Merge-After: 2025-09-01T09:00:00Z
```

Supports the standard [timestamp format](/configuration/data-types#timestamp).
Useful for coordinated releases or off-peak deploy windows.

<Image src={mergeAfterBody} alt="Using Merge-After in the pull request body on GitHub" />