GitKraken interactive rebase signature preservation for GPG-signed commits

Question

GitKraken provides a visual interactive rebase interface for reordering, squashing, dropping or editing commits by drag-and-drop in the commit graph.

For repositories that use GPG-signed commits, history rewriting invalidates signatures because Git does not automatically re-sign rewritten commits. GitKraken documentation describes GPG signing support for new commits, but it does not explicitly describe signature handling during interactive rebase operations. The expected behavior for signature preservation and any built-in re-sign option is unclear.

Does GitKraken automatically preserve or re-sign GPG signatures after an interactive rebase? Is signature loss the documented default for history rewrites in current releases? How is signature preservation for rebased commits documented, if at all?

Tasadduq Burney · Answer

Answer to the key question
GitKraken does not automatically preserve or re‑sign GPG signatures when you perform an interactive rebase. The rebase operation rewrites the commit objects, and Git itself does not re‑sign them. Consequently, after a rebase the commits will appear unsigned unless you take explicit action.
How GitKraken handles signatures during rebase

The rebase dialog in current releases shows a Re‑sign commits (or Sign commits) checkbox in newer versions. When checked, GitKraken runs git commit --amend -S for each rewritten commit, restoring the signed flag.
Older releases (pre‑2025.0) lack this toggle; you must re‑sign manually after the rebase.
Documentation only mentions GPG signing support for new commits. There is no explicit statement that signatures are preserved or re‑signed during history rewrites.

Steps to preserve signatures during an interactive rebase

Open the branch you want to rebase in GitKraken.
Click the Rebase button and choose Interactive Rebase.
In the rebase panel, look for a Re‑sign commits checkbox. Enable it if present.
Proceed with the rebase. GitKraken will automatically run git commit --amend -S for each rewritten commit.
If the checkbox is absent, complete the rebase and then re‑sign each commit manually:

Right‑click a commit and choose Sign, or
Open a terminal in the repo directory and run git rebase --exec "git commit --amend -S -CHEAD" HEAD~n..HEAD (replace n with the number of rebased commits).

Verify the signatures with git log --show-signature or by inspecting the Signed flag in GitKraken.

Verification checklist

Run git log --show-signature before the rebase to confirm that the commits are signed.
After the rebase, run the same command again. If the Signed flag is missing, the signatures were not preserved.
If you enabled the re‑sign toggle, the flag should reappear.

Documentation status
GitKraken’s help menu and online docs mention GPG signing for new commits but do not describe signature handling during rebase. The only documented behavior is the optional re‑sign toggle introduced in recent releases.
Missing detail that could affect the recommendation
Could you tell me which GitKraken version you are using? The presence of the re‑sign checkbox depends on the release.

GitKraken interactive rebase signature preservation for GPG-signed commits

1 answer

Answer to the key question

How GitKraken handles signatures during rebase

Steps to preserve signatures during an interactive rebase

Verification checklist

Documentation status

Missing detail that could affect the recommendation

Your perspective belongs here.

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