# Solution Reference: Challenge 9 -- Merge Day

This shows what a successful Day 1 completion looks like.

## What happens at merge

When your PR from Challenge 6 (or a later challenge) is approved and merged:

1. The "Merge pull request" button turns green
2. After clicking it, your branch's commits appear on main
3. The linked issue (from `Closes #N`) automatically closes
4. The PR status changes to "Merged" with a purple icon

## Example evidence

Your Day 1 recap evidence might include:

> **What I merged:** PR #5 which fixed the TODO in welcome.md (linked to issue #3)
>
> **What I learned today:**
>
> - Repositories have a navigable structure with tabs for code, issues, and PRs
> - Issues document problems; PRs propose solutions
> - Branches let you work without affecting main
> - Merge conflicts happen when two people change the same lines -- they are normal and fixable
> - Open source projects have community guidelines that shape how people collaborate
>
> **What surprised me:** How much of open source is communication (issues, PR descriptions, comments) rather than just writing code.

## Alternate approaches

- Post your recap as a comment on your challenge issue
- Share a summary in the workshop discussion channel
- Write a short reflection in a new file on your branch

## What matters

The learning objective is completing the Day 1 loop: issue to branch to commit to PR to merge. If you merged at least one PR and can articulate what you learned, you completed this challenge.

## Authoritative Sources

Use these official references when you need the current source of truth for facts in this chapter.

- [GitHub Docs, home](https://docs.github.com/en)
- [GitHub Changelog](https://github.blog/changelog/)

### Section-Level Source Map

Use this map to verify facts for each major section in this file.

- **What happens at merge:** [GitHub Docs, home](https://docs.github.com/en), [GitHub Changelog](https://github.blog/changelog/), [About Git](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/using-git/about-git), [GitHub flow](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/using-github/github-flow), [About pull requests](https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/about-pull-requests)
- **Example evidence:** [GitHub Docs, home](https://docs.github.com/en), [GitHub Changelog](https://github.blog/changelog/)
- **Alternate approaches:** [GitHub Docs, home](https://docs.github.com/en), [GitHub Changelog](https://github.blog/changelog/)
- **What matters:** [GitHub Docs, home](https://docs.github.com/en), [GitHub Changelog](https://github.blog/changelog/)