---
title: Deploying your Merge Queue
description: Deploy Mergify's merge queue with a hybrid approach or enforce exclusive automated merges.
---

import { Image } from "astro:assets";
import bpDashboardScreenshot from "../../images/merge-queue/deploy/dashboard.png"

Once you've configured your merge queue, you can deploy it using one of two approaches:

**Approach 1: Hybrid Mode** — Mergify and manual merges coexist. This is the
simplest way to start and requires no additional setup.

**Approach 2: Exclusive Mode** — Only Mergify can merge pull requests (enforced
via GitHub rulesets). This provides the most streamlined workflow.

Both approaches are optional—choose what works best for your team.

## Approach 1: Hybrid Mode

In hybrid mode, developers can use the merge queue or merge manually—both work
simultaneously. This is the default behavior and requires no setup.

### When to Use Hybrid Mode

- **Getting started**: Your team is new to merge queues
- **Gradual transition**: You want minimal disruption to existing workflows
- **Flexibility**: Some PRs need manual merging for specific reasons

### Tradeoffs

- **Queue disruption**: Manual merges can interrupt the automated queue flow
- **Extra CI time**: Manual merges may reset queued jobs, increasing CI usage (disable with `reset_on_external_merge: never`)

### Best Practices

**Educate your team** on when to use the queue vs. manual merges.

**Monitor usage** to track adoption. Add this rule to get notified of manual merges:

```yaml
pull_request_rules:
  - name: notify on manual merge
    conditions:
      - merged
      - merged-by != mergify[bot]
    actions:
      comment:
        message: Hey @{{author}}, this PR was merged manually. Consider using the merge queue next time!
```

**Gather feedback** from your team and address any issues they encounter.

## Approach 2: Exclusive Mode

In exclusive mode, only Mergify can merge pull requests. This is enforced using
GitHub rulesets and provides the most consistent, automated workflow.

### When to Use Exclusive Mode

- **Your team is comfortable** with the merge queue
- **You want consistency**: All PRs follow the same automated process
- **Optimal performance**: Eliminates queue disruptions from manual merges

### How to Enable Exclusive Mode

1. Navigate to **Merge Queue > Deploy** in your Mergify dashboard.

   <Image src={bpDashboardScreenshot} alt="Deploy screen from Mergify dashboard"/>

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to configure your GitHub ruleset.

3. Click the verification button to confirm your setup is correct.

**Be careful**: Mergify injects ruleset rules as conditions in the Merge Queue.
If you want Mergify to bypass the injection of the ruleset rules, please
see the [merge action](/workflow/actions/merge/) documentation.