&gt; Does the &quot;required status check&quot; thing apply to `git push`, or just to the merge button on the website?<p>It applies to all ways of updating git: push, the web UI, merging, and the API.<p>&gt; how do you trigger a status check to run on your actual merge&#x2F;rebase as made in your local client, which will almost certainly differ in SHA1 and may differ in content from the merge made in the PR?<p>If they differ in SHA1 but not content, things will work fine. A protected branch cannot be updated to a git tree that has not been tested.<p>If your PR differs in content, clicking the &#x27;update branch&#x27; button on a PR will make the merge commit and your PR&#x27;s content the same, so a new CI run will apply to the correct content.